


Chuck vs. d.s al Coda

by Amelia_Wolfson



Series: Chuck Vs. The Band Nerds [2]
Category: Chuck (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:08:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 52,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22522273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amelia_Wolfson/pseuds/Amelia_Wolfson
Summary: A continuation of Chuck Vs. The Band Nerds. Where are Chuck and Jenny now? Where have their lives led them since they parted after the band competition?
Relationships: Chuck Bartowski/Sarah Walker
Series: Chuck Vs. The Band Nerds [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1620046
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

“Mom, have you seen Molly’s diaper bag?” Sarah called from where she stood in the living room, head in the coat closet.

“I have it, Sweetheart,” Emma called back as she carried her granddaughter and the diaper bag into the living room. “You brought it into her room yesterday to refill it, remember?”

“Right,” Sarah sighed rubbing her forehead, “I should have known that.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Sarah,” Emma advised, “You have a lot on your plate. You and Molly just moved here, you’re starting a new job, a new school, not to mention being a featured soloist in next month’s LA Phil season opening. It’s understandable to be a little forgetful.”

“I’m just so overwhelmed, Mom,” Sarah gave her mom a sad smile.

“There is no shame in asking for help, Honey,” Emma assured her daughter who was shouldering her purse and the strap of her violin case over her right shoulder, “It takes a lot of bravery to admit that you need it.”

“I feel like I’m failing her,” Sarah shook her head, “You were able to do it alone… at least until I left with Dad. I still can’t apologize to you enough for doing that. I don’t know how I would take it if Molly did the same to me when she’s older.”

“Well to start with, I wasn’t alone,” Emma gave her daughter a soft smile, “I had your dad for a while, but when he went back to his swindling ways, I had a group of friends who would rotate watching you along with their own little ones while I worked. There were months of living on food stamps to make sure we both got a little something to eat. Even after I found a better job and you went to school; you were on free lunches until the day your father came back and charmed you away with tales of adventure.”

“I don’t remember that,” Sarah shook her head.

“How could you?” Emma shook her head with a small chuckle, “You were so young, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make here. You are not Wonder Woman, and no one expects you to do it all alone. Parenting is hard whether there are one or two parents, or in Miss Molly’s case a parent and a grandparent. We’ll get through it, together, we just have to take it one day at a time.”

“Speaking of time,” Sarah looked at her watch, “It’s about time for us to go.”

“Then let’s go,” Emma nodded, following her daughter out to where their cars were parked. Sarah’s bright red corolla had a car seat in the back seat, diagonally from the driver’s seat so Sarah could reach back to her daughter when needed. Sarah opened the front passenger seat, depositing her violin case and purse before taking the diaper bag from her mom and setting that on the ground in front of the passenger seat as well. She then opened the rear door and turned back to her mom.

“Alright, baby girl,” Emma cooed, “You are going to have so much fun at daycare, gonna meet so many new friends and play all day, get a nap, some lunch and snacks then Granny will come pick you up.” She kissed the little girl on her cheek with a loud smack, causing the 18-month-old to giggle, “I love you, baby girl.”

Sarah smiled at the display and accepted her daughter in her arms, transferring her into her newly front-facing car seat and fastening the straps over the little girl's chest and lap. She turned back to her mom, wrapping her arms around the slightly shorter woman. “Thank you for keeping me sane,” She sighed in her mother’s ear, “I don’t know how I could do this without you.”

“You’d figure it out, just like every parent does,” Emma assured her, “But I’m glad you are letting me be a part of this with you, at least until a better option comes along.”

“Mom,” Sarah warned.

“What?” Emma gave her daughter an innocent look, “After that idiot, Brent… Brody… Brian?

“You know his name, Mom,” Sarah rolled her eyes, “I know you’ve been worried about me since Bruce up and left me after finding out I was pregnant with Molly.”

“I just want you to find someone who will love you and Molly like you deserve to be loved,” Emma pressed her hand against her daughter’s cheek, “I spent years miserable after your father left before I let myself open up to the possibility of love again.”

“I’m sorry I never got to meet Bill,” Sarah met her mother’s eyes, “He sounded like a wonderful man.”

“He truly was,” Emma wiped a tear away at the thought of her now deceased second husband, “He would have loved you and Molly. But cancer doesn’t give breaks for good people, and he had smoked since he was 15. Life is sometimes not fair, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to find some good while you can.”

“Mom, I have all the good I need right now,” Sarah took her mother’s hands in hers, “I have Molly and you; I don’t need you setting me up with some coworker’s son.”

“No setup, promise,” Emma shook her head slightly, “Just advice to not let a good thing pass you by if you find it. In my experience, it likes to sneak up on you when you least expect it. If Bill hadn’t come into the hospital to check up on one of his guys, we never would have met.”

“I promise, if I find myself in some made for a TV Movie meet cute, I won’t let it pass me by,” Sarah nodded, turning back to the car and shutting Molly’s door. “I should be home in time for dinner, assuming rehearsal doesn’t go too late. I love you.”

“I love you too, Sweetheart,” Emma hugged her daughter, “Now get going, last thing you and Molly need is to be late to your first days of school.”

“Yes, Mom.” Sarah grinned, getting in her car and pulling out of the driveway and toward the home of Anne Johnson, an in-home childcare provider who lived a few blocks away from the high school where she was starting her new job as the associate band director.

It didn’t take long to arrive at Anne’s house, a charming two-story craftsman house with an open floor plan. There was plush carpeting in the living and playrooms which were separated by a kitchen and dining area. It didn’t take long for Anne to answer the door when she knocked. It was still fairly early, so it wasn’t terribly busy aside from the handful of teens and young adults, Anne’s children, sleepily shuffling around as they started their day. There was also another woman a few years older than herself, wearing blue scrubs, likely a doctor or a nurse, and her hair pulled back in a ponytail. She was crouched down by a leather loveseat tucking in a sleepy little girl who looked to be about four or five years old with an afghan from the back of the loveseat.

The woman in the scrubs kissed the little girl on the forehead and turned to bid Anne goodbye. Anne took the opportunity to introduce them. Apparently, the woman’s name was Ellie, and she and her husband were both specialists at Westside Medical. The older woman gave Sarah a warm smile which she quickly returned.

“Ellie, this is Sarah,” Anne spoke. Anne was a woman in her mid to late 40’s with dark curly hair which was starting to show a bit of grey at the temples. “Sarah is new to town; she’s going to be teaching over at Burbank High School.”

“And who is this?” Ellie gestured to Molly who had chosen this moment to be shy and bury her head in her mother’s shoulder.

“This is Molly, my daughter,” Sarah tried to get Molly to wave hello, but the little girl wasn’t having it. “She’s still tired.”

“You can tuck her in with my daughter, Clara over there.” Ellie suggested, “When we work early shifts like this, I will usually bring her over in her jammies and put her back to bed when we get here so she can get a little more sleep. Anne will get her dressed and off to school in a few hours. She is great about that.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Sarah nodded, “High school starts way earlier for the teachers than it does for the students. Which is still way too early for Molly.”

“Speaking of,” Anne cut in, “Don’t you two have places to be?”

“Yeah, I’ll see you later, Anne,” Ellie nodded and headed toward the door as Sarah shrugged her acquiescence before laying Molly down on the love seat, end to end with Clara, making sure the afghan covered both the sleeping girls.

“Okay, Molly, be good for Miss Anne. Mommy loves you,” Sarah whispered to her daughter before kissing her on the cheek and heading back toward the front door, giving Anne a small smile when the older woman bid her a good day.

“I wish I could say it gets easier,” Sarah turned to see Ellie who was leaning against her own car.

“No kidding, it feels like I left a bit of my soul in there,” Sarah sighed.

“Well you did,” Ellie gave her a soft smile, “It took me nearly a year before I could fully go back to work after having Clara. I took three months maternity leave, and tried to go back to work, while my husband took paternity leave, but all I could think about was being home with my little girl.”

“I wish I could stay home with her all the time, but it’s just the two of us,” Sarah gave a small shrug, “My mom helps some now that we’ve moved here, but she works too, and the goal is to only stay with her long enough for me to find my own place.”

Ellie’s eyes lit up, “There’s an apartment in my condo complex that just came available. Why don’t you come take a look at it sometime? If you like it, I’m sure I can convince my husband and brother to help you move your stuff over. Come to think, my brother is about your age…”

“Oh no, don’t go starting that,” Sarah rolled her eyes, “I already had to fend off my mom’s matchmaker attempt this morning.”

“Point taken,” Ellie nodded in acceptance, “He doesn’t like it when I try to set him up either. Could you use a friend? Anne did say you were new in town, so I figure you may not have many around here.”

“I’d like that,” Sarah nodded with a smile. The women quickly exchanged numbers, got in their cars and drove to their respective jobs.

~~~~~~~~~

Chuck groaned as he laid his head on his desk. He’d been hard at work finishing the coding for his latest game and was getting a migraine. There had been a time, even just a few years ago that he could join Morgan in marathon gaming sessions all night, then work all the next day, with no problem. Now, though, headaches were becoming a frequent occurrence, it was almost to the point where he was considering following his sister’s advice and seeing about getting glasses. “Ugh kill me now,” He groaned, rubbing his temple with one hand while pulling a bottle of ibuprofen from his desk drawer. He shook two pills out into his hand and swallowed them down with the last few swallows of coffee that had long ago grown cold.

Five years ago, when he’d graduated Stanford, he had been so excited to introduce himself to the gaming market. Two years later, his first game had been developed as his thesis project for his Master’s Degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. With the first game’s release, and the successful release the next year of two more games, Orion Games became the breakout star of the gaming industry. Things were still going well for the company, he had a small, but loyal staff, a few of which, like Skip, who was working for him part time while completing his own computer science bachelors at UCLA, he had brought over from the BuyMore. It had actually been Morgan who had encouraged Chuck to take Skip in the first place, something he thanked his little buddy for every day as Skip was quickly becoming his right-hand coder in the company.

However, with Skip entering his final year for his bachelor’s degree, he wasn’t as available as he had been the previous couple years. This left Chuck with the lion’s share of the work for this current project as he and Skip were the only ones who worked on coding and game development. Morgan had been encouraging him for months to take on at least one or two more coders and developers to share the workload, as the company was bound to need them at their current and projected rate of growth, especially once Skip graduated in the spring.

Morgan, who had been his first official hire, was an excellent office manager and was dating their accounting specialist, Alex, a former military brat who had settled in California when her father, a major with the US Marine Corps had been assigned to Camp Pendleton. She had wound up at USC for college where she met Morgan who was also attending part time at Chuck’s encouragement. With Morgan in Business Administration and Alex in Accounting, they’d shared some classes and eventually study sessions became study dates and eventually just dating until they had both graduated about the time that Chuck had earned his master’s degree.

Christina and Nathaniel made up their marketing and advertisement team, and Brody was responsible for educational outreach. Between the three of them, the educational games that the company had been developing since its inception had become very popular with many of the grade schools not only in the LA area, but their software was being picked up by schools and families throughout the West Coast and slowly spreading East.

Originally, Bryce was supposed to have been a part of this dream team. Orion Games had been Chuck and Bryce’s brainchild. All those dreams of graduating and working together after college had been shattered their senior year. Chuck had returned after acing an especially difficult midterm to find his girlfriend Jill in his bed, but she wasn’t alone. The fraternity took quick action, immediately evicting Bryce from the fraternity house and the fraternity altogether. They had even banded together and pooled their money to help Chuck recoup the cost of the ring he’d been planning to propose to Jill with that Christmas. Heartbroken, he’d thrown himself deeper into his studies and graduated with distinction at the end of that year and powered through the next two to earn his master’s.

Ellie had been not-so-quietly ecstatic when Chuck broke the news to her about his breakup, as she had never been shy about her disapproval of his girlfriend, but also saddened at the hurt her little brother had experienced. He nearly had to go back home and physically restrain Ellie from coming to Palo Alto to get retribution on Jill. Much to Chuck’s relief, her boyfriend proposed a few weeks later which distracted her enough to let Chuck focus on the rest of the school year. It was hard at first, but he was surprised at how quickly he had gotten over her. Losing Bryce was almost harder, but although he had forgiven Bryce’s actions, resuming their friendship was not in the cards. A week before graduation, Bryce disappeared, never to be seen again. Rumor had it that he was an accountant for some big company back East, but no one knew for sure.

Since then Chuck had moved on with his life, he was a doting uncle to his sister’s five-year-old daughter, Clara and quite often would volunteer to babysit to give his sister and brother-in-law time to relax for a bit or get out for a date. His headache was just starting to fade when he heard a knock on his office door. Looking up, he saw Morgan enter. “Hey, Buddy, what’s up?”

Morgan just looked at him incredulously, “Chuck, do you have any idea what time it is?”

“Not really,” Chuck shrugged looking toward his window to see light behind the blinds he had closed to reduce the glare on his monitor. “Afternoon?”

“Okay that’s it,” Morgan marched around Chuck’s desk, pulled his taller friend out of his chair, and pushed him toward the door, “It is 9 in the morning and I’m fairly certain that you haven’t left your desk except to get takeout.” He looked around, “Or perhaps delivery. Did you seriously get Red Dragon without me?”

Chuck just gave him a look as he reluctantly walked out of his office, his friend lecturing him the whole way about getting proper sleep, eating, and hygiene and how they all go out the window when Chuck is absorbed in a project. As the lecture reached its conclusion, Morgan turned Chuck to face him, a stern look in his eye as he informed Chuck that he’d called a cab, not trusting his friend’s driving ability after being up for over 30 hours and was sending him home with strict instructions to sleep.

“As your best friend, hetero life partner, and office manager,” Morgan insisted to Chuck’s rolling eyes, “I don’t want to see you back here until next Monday. You are to go home, rest, and do something other than making video games. Maybe you could get Ellie and Awesome to let you take Clara to the beach, play your guitar, write a song; you haven’t done any of those things in a long time. I don’t care what you do, so long as you don’t do it here. Ellie is aware I’m sending you home. She and Awesome have already confiscated your hardware so you can’t work on the game from home.”

“Morgan, I don’t think that’s really necessary,” Chuck groaned.

“Oh, but it is,” Morgan countered, “You forget, I was around the first time you got like this, when I sent you home, you went right to your computer and continued working, which is what we are trying to get you to not do right now. You are seriously more caffeine than man right now and you need a serious detox, and that’s really saying something considering my red bull addiction.”

A honking horn cut off any retort Chuck would have had as the men turned to see a yellow taxi sitting out front waiting for its fare to come out. “I hate you so much right now,” Chuck grumbled as he reluctantly ambled down the stairs and to the taxi.

“Love you too, man,” Morgan gave him a wide grin and waved as Chuck pulled away in the taxi before adding under his breath “He seriously needs to learn what work-life balance means…”

~~~~~~~~~

“Alright, Lucy, let’s run that section one more time,” Sarah advised the sophomore who she was working with one-on-one that day. The school had a small violin section, only about 4 or 5 in the lower bands and about 8 in the orchestra. Since the head director didn’t play strings, it had been left up to Sarah to work with the students who needed a little extra help in the violin, bass, and cello sections.

Sarah smiled at the young girl reassuringly as they positioned their violins and held their bows at the ready. “One, two, three, four,” Sarah counted them in, setting the pace for the section they were working on. Lucy was a little shaky at first but as she continued, her confidence built and soon, Sarah had backed off as they hit the D.S. al coda. By the time Lucy reached the coda, Sarah was no longer playing.

“That was great!” Sarah praised with a wide smile, “Do you want to try it playing violin 1 while I play violin 2?”

“Okay,” Lucy nodded, her smile giving away how proud she was of herself.

“We’ll take it from bar 12, and play through to the end of the section,” Sarah instructed. When she received a nod from Lucy, she counted them in, and they started their parts. Lucy went sour a couple times but was otherwise successful.

Sarah couldn’t help the grin that grew on her face, Lucy had approached her the other day after the director, Mrs. Tucker, had asked Sarah to play a section of Paganini’s Caprice No. 4. It was the same piece she would be playing solo at the season opening of the L.A. Phil the following month. By the time she had finished, most of the string section was in awe of her, realizing that the skill she needed to play the piece was well above the capabilities of most professional violinists. The awe turned to amazement from the entire band when, with a smirk on her face, she began to play the solo from ‘Devil went down to Georgia,’ which was more easily recognized by the group of teens. Lucy had not been the only one to ask for help, but she was the only one who would show up consistently. Since Sarah usually had rehearsal after school, she mentored her students during third period, when the students had their lunch breaks, either before or after the period. She used the 35 minutes in between the two lunch periods to rehearse for the Philharmonic

Sarah glanced at her watch and noticed there was 15 minutes left of the 45-minute lunch break left for her to eat before her last classes of the day. “Alright, Lucy, that will have to be all for today,” Sarah advised, “I still have to eat, and so do you. Good work today, if you keep this up, you will be able to mount your first chair challenge… and win.”

“Thanks Miss Walker,” Lucy grinned, putting her violin and bow away before collecting her sheet music and scurrying off to eat.

Sarah smiled at the girl’s retreating form before putting her own instrument away, stretching her back which had gotten tight from sitting on the hard chair in the rehearsal room, and walking across the narrow hall to the office she shared with the head director. Pulling a salad from the small mini-fridge the women shared, she settled at her desk and quickly ate finishing just as the bell signaling the end of the period chimed through the building.

The last two periods of the day went by quickly, and she had just enough time to grab an iced coffee on her way to the Walt Disney Concert Hall for rehearsal. They focused on two of the pieces from the middle of their program, including her solo. She had memorized the piece almost immediately after being awarded the solo and practiced it in part or in whole several times a day outside of the full orchestra rehearsals. Due to being one of the youngest members of the orchestra, and the youngest member of the violin section, she had to pretend not to hear the grumbling that was still occurring within her section over her being awarded the solo over the more seasoned violinists. The maestro commended her on the near perfect execution of her piece and gave her a few notes before calling an end to the rehearsal.

Driving home, she saw a sign for nearby activities and a memory from her childhood came flooding back to her. As the next day was Saturday and she had no rehearsal, she was free to do as she wished. Seeing the sign gave her an idea of how she could spend the day with her daughter, and perhaps her mother if the older woman wasn’t working.

Upon arrival, she joined her mother for dinner then fed and bathed Molly before putting her to bed. The women relaxed on the couch with the baby monitor on the coffee table, listening for any indication that the infant had awoken. Within a half an hour, they were sure Molly wasn’t going to wake up any time soon. Sarah raised her idea for a family outing to her mother, who loved the idea, especially since she had the day off from the hospital.

The women sat up a few more hours quietly talking about their days, plans, and upcoming events, before finally resigning themselves to sleep and parting to enjoy the soft comfort of their own mattresses.


	2. Chapter 2

Saturday dawned bright through the curtains of Chuck’s bedroom, causing him to groan and turn over, pulling one of his spare pillows over his head to block the light. He was just about to fall back asleep when a loud knocking came from his front door. “Really?” He groused stumbling out of bed and down the stairs of the small one-bedroom apartment he’d moved into when Orion Games had begun to turn a profit. He saw no need to purchase a house when it was just him and liked being close to his sister and brother-in-law and their daughter. Of course, living so close tended to lead to moments like this where he got early morning visitors who had no respect for his desire to sleep.

Opening the door revealed no big surprise as he was met with the excited, smiling face of his older sister. “Elle, it’s too early in the morning for this,” He huffed, stepping back from the door, knowing from experience it was better to just let her say her piece than to shut the door in her face which he often felt like doing when she woke him up like this.

“It’s not that early,” Ellie countered, following her brother into his apartment as he shuffled his way into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee, “And besides, it’s easier to find a good spot if you go early.”

“Then how about you guys go ahead, and I’ll join you later,” Chuck yawned as he reached for a mug in the cabinet above the coffee maker.

“Because we both know you won’t join us later,” Ellie gave him a knowing look as she leaned against the archway leading to the small kitchen area.

“That may well be true, usually,” Chuck pointed out as he pulled out a bowl and a box of fruity-o’s and prepared his breakfast as he continued to speak, “But you are forgetting one crucial thing. I promised Clara I would be there, and you know I can’t lie to that face.”

“In that case, if you are going to be there, why not just go with us?” Ellie challenged.

“Because, contrary to popular belief in the Woodcomb and Grimes households, I am an adult and capable of getting myself from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ with little to no supervision,” Chuck rolled his eyes as he carried his bowl of cereal and coffee to the dining room table and took a seat. “I know you were one of the driving forces to Morgan mandating I take a break from work.”

“Chuck you hadn’t slept in days,” Ellie countered, “And while I know you are an adult and capable of taking care of yourself, when you are deep into a project, you often let pesky things like sleep, eating, and personal appearance go to the wayside. You’re my little brother and it is my right to worry about you.”

“I appreciate that,” Chuck nodded, slowly chewing his cereal, “But do you really have to worry so much? I mean, I could have been done with the game by now rather than having to wait until next week to finish.”

“Yes, I do Chuck,” Ellie insisted, “Until Skip is done with school and able to help you with making the games, and even after, you need to learn to pace yourself. I know you impose some ridiculously short deadlines for your projects, but is it really worth it to have the game done by some arbitrary date and risk your health in the process?”

“Alright, I see your point,” Chuck sighed, “I will try to do better about being more cognizant of my own health when I’m working.”

“That’s all I ask,” Ellie nodded, stealing her brother’s mug and taking a sip of coffee, “I’ll leave you be for now. We’ll be heading over there in about a half an hour. If you don’t want to caravan with us over, we can text you our location when we get there so you can find us.”

“Sounds good, Elle,” Chuck nodded, “Do you want me to bring anything?”

“We have food, blankets, towels and such covered,” Ellie rambled off a mental checklist in her head, “So really all you need to bring is you… and maybe your guitar, you know how much Clara likes it when you play.”

“That goes without saying,” Chuck snickered, “We can’t disappoint Clara.”

“Alright little brother,” Ellie gave him a small smile, “We’ll see you there.”

“Okay, Ellie,” Chuck nodded and watched her as she walked across the living room to the landing that sat between the stairs and the front door. She gave him a small wave and exited the apartment.

~~~~~~~~~

“Good morning, Mom,” Sarah smiled at her mother as she entered the kitchen, Molly propped on her hip.

“Good morning, Sweetheart,” Emma looked up from where she sat at the kitchen table, sipping coffee as she read the paper, “Did you sleep well?”

“Yep,” Sarah nodded, as she placed Molly in her highchair before setting about preparing their breakfasts, “Have you already eaten?”

“Had some toast and grapefruit earlier,” Emma responded lightly, “Just enjoying a cup of coffee before heading up and getting ready for today.”

“Alright,” Sarah nodded, popping a few pieces of bread into the toaster before opening the fridge to pull out the containers of blueberries and raspberries she and Molly would have for breakfast. She noticed the Tupperware boxes on the top shelf of the fridge and when she turned to the counter, she noticed a small cooler sitting on the floor by the island counter, “You’ve been busy already, I see.”

“Didn’t know how long we would be out, figured it would be a good idea to pack a bit of a picnic to take with us,” Emma shrugged nonchalantly as she tipped her mug back and finished her coffee. “I’m going to go get dressed, do you want me to pack a bag for Molly while I’m up there?”

“No, that’s okay,” Sarah shook her head as she reached for the toast which had just popped up and proceeded to butter it and cut one of the pieces in to triangle pieces for her daughter, “You just get you ready, I can take care of Molly and my things for the day. I already have the impression that you know exactly how you plan to pack the cooler, so I’ll leave that to you.”

“You know me too well,” Emma chuckled, rinsing out her cup and placing it in the top rack of the dishwasher before pressing a kiss to her daughter’s cheek and heading out of the kitchen to get dressed for the day.

An hour later, all three Walker girls were ready to go. Emma carried the cooler and her tote bag to her silver 2005 Kia Sorento, opening the back hatch and settling them, along with the diaper bag and totes her daughter handed her, in the trunk while Sarah loaded Molly into her car seat. Once both women slid into the front seats, Emma started up the car and backed out of the driveway.

“We should probably stop at CVS to pick up sunscreen,” Sarah advised, “I wasn’t able to find any in the bathroom.”

Emma simply nodded her understanding and directed the car out of the neighborhood. After a brief stop at the drugstore, for Sarah to grab sunscreen and some bottled drinks for them, they made their way to their destination. Emma quickly laid out a large, tan, Pendleton blanket with a loose blues and red plaid pattern and set up the umbrella before returning to the car to grab the cooler and help Sarah bring over the rest of their bags. By the time she returned, Sarah had already pulled out the shopping bag and was slathering sunscreen on her daughter’s fair skin.

Both women watched with amused smiles on their faces as Molly stood, a little unsteady on the shifting sand beneath her feet and walked toward the edge of the blanket where she looked curiously at the sand surrounding her. It was her first time at a beach considering between her mother’s university classes and concerts, they hadn’t had much time to explore the New England coastline. She looked back at her mother and grandma and pointed to the sand, “Dis?”

“That’s sand, Baby Girl,” Sarah smiled at her daughter as she got up on her knees and crawled toward the little girl. She picked up a handful of the gritty substance and let it run through her fingers before taking another handful in one hand and gently grasping Molly’s hand in her other and letting the warm sand run over and through the girl’s hands and fingers. Molly’s eyes widened at the texture before kneeling next to her mother, grabbing handfuls of sand and watching it slip through her chubby fingers.

“That will keep her entertained for a while,” Emma smiled, lathering on some sunscreen as she watched her daughter introduce her first grandchild to sand. She couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped her lips when she heard Sarah having to tell the two-year-old that sand was ‘icky’ and not meant for eating.

Sarah and Emma sat watching Molly play with the sand along the edge of their blanket as they enjoyed their day, people watching and reading, while also keeping an eye on the girl.

A shriek caught their attention as they started munching on their lunch of sandwiches, carrot sticks, and fruit. Both women looked up to see a tall, well-built man in his 30’s with sandy hair who wore nothing but a pair of dark blue board shorts chase a woman about the same age with dark hair and a girl who looked to be a few years older than Molly through the tidepools and lapping waves along the shoreline. Emma grinned as she watched the man grab hold of the woman and sling her over his shoulder and run into the surf while the little girl giggled and clapped her enjoyment at their game.

Not long after, the small family who had been playing in the low waves made their way to a blanket that had been set up not too far down the beach from where they had set up their space. The woman pulled on a t-shirt over the teal bikini she was wearing and pulled a smaller shirt over the little girl’s head, covering the hot pink bathing suit the girl wore. Once they were both covered up, she reached into a grocery bag, pulling out paper plates and plastic utensils. She was just reaching into their cooler when a loud shriek came from the little girl who was suddenly dashing down the beach.

“Uncle Chuck!” The girl cried as she flung herself at a man a few years younger than her parents. The man was as tall if not slightly taller than the girl’s father with a trim but fit frame and curly brown hair. The young man grinned as he dropped the bag that was on his shoulder and the soft sided case that had been in his other hand before running a short distance past that point and scooping the girl up in his arms, swinging her up and to the side of his body and tossing her into the air, causing the little girl to squeal in delight.

“Clare-bear!” He grinned at the little girl adoringly as he caught her and brought her safely into his arms as the little girl wrapped her arms around his neck and legs around his waist, causing the t-shirt he wore to rise a little giving those around him a glimpse of his abdominal muscles. “Did you miss me?”

“Yeah, I’ve been waiting for you to get here _all_ day!” The girl protested.

“I’m sorry I made you wait,” The man smiled down at her, warmly, “But your Uncle Morgan called me just as I was heading out the door.”

“Did you bring him and Aunti Alex?” The girl looked around eagerly.

“No, but they’ll be here later,” The man assured her as he put her back down. He ignored the little girl’s pout as he walked back to his bag and soft-sided case and picked them up. The moment the girl saw the case, her face lit up, “You brought it!”

“Of course, I brought it,” The man gave her a mockingly offended look, “C’mon, it’s me.”

The girl grinned as he slung the strap of the soft case over his shoulder and reached out his hand to her, “I promise I’ll play later, but we should probably go eat before your mom hits home with those daggers she’s shooting at me.”

“Mom has daggers?” The girl looked up at the man in wide-eyed awe.

“No, it just means she’s giving me ‘the look’ that means I’m in trouble if I don’t do as she wants, which is to bring you back to her so you can eat your lunch,” the man explained, “I’m also kinda hungry, so we should probably eat.”

“Okay,” Clara nodded and skipped along beside her uncle as they made their way to join the rest of their family.

Sarah watched the whole interaction between the girl and the tall man. There was something about him that was so familiar to her, and the smile he had when he looked at his niece nearly melted her from the inside out. It was a good thing she was sitting down or else her knees would have given way. Not even Bryce had caused such a reaction at first sight.

Emma noticed her daughter’s reaction to the newly arrived young man, but chose not to say anything, at least not yet. It was clear her daughter was infatuated with the man; she’d never seen her look at anyone else the way she looked at him.

~~~~~~~~~~

After a meal of cold chicken, potato salad, and cookies for dessert, Chuck decided it was time to enjoy the beach a little. He pulled off the tan firefly t-shirt he wore, leaving him in a pair of black board shorts, not even noticing he had drawn just about as much attention from the women nearby as his brother-in-law did. He gave his sister a small smile and dashed down the beach toward the waves, when he got about waist deep, he dove in, under an incoming wave. The water was bracingly cold but felt good considering the hot afternoon sun. He turned to see his sister chuckling and rolling her eyes at him. He could see Clara pointing toward him and saying something to her mother before they both looked over toward Chuck.

He knew what was coming, a moment later, Clara was free of her t-shirt and was running toward the ocean, kicking up sand behind her as she went. By the time she had reached the surf, he was only a few feet away. Before she had gone far enough for the waves to reach her knees, he’d scooped her up, blowing a raspberry against her neck, causing the girl to giggle. “You’re all wet, Uncle Chuck.”

“Well, diving in the ocean will do that to you,” Chuck grinned, “Do you want to go in?”

Clara nodded vigorously, “Alright, remember to hold your nose,” Chuck advised as he waded back into the incoming waves until he was waist deep once more, “Here we go, one, two, three!” He held on to Clara, who clung to him with one arm while the fingers of her other hand held her nose closed, and let himself fall back into the waves, effectively dunking both of them into the cold surf.

When they’d come back up, Clara demanded to go again, through her chattering teeth. Chuck grinned and repeated the count down and fell back again as the waves enveloped them. They played in the ocean a while longer, Chuck trying to teach Clara how to body surf, and then chasing each other through the surf that lapped against the hardpacked sand of the shore. He had noticed the pretty blond a ways down the shoreline with the toddler playing in the surf and did his best to steer Clara away from the little girl so that their game of tag wouldn’t wind up knocking the younger girl over.

Clara soon tired of their game and they trudged their way back up to where Ellie and Awesome were sitting so that Clara could lie down and rest for a bit. He helped Clara put her t-shirt on and wrapped her up in a large towel. Just as the girl was laying down, she murmured something.

“Hmm?” Chuck leaned closer to his niece as he stroked her light brown hair.

“Guitar, please,” Clara repeated, sitting up and looking at him with puppy eyes.

“Sure,” Chuck smiled, turning to grab the soft sided case that he’d laid along the side of the blanket. Opening the case, he withdrew the acoustic guitar and laid it across his lap and began strumming softly before he began to sing, ‘Imagine’ as Clara listened intently. It didn’t take long for Clara’s attention to turn into drooping eyes and head and eventually lay down, curled up next to her favorite uncle, and drift off to sleep. Once he was sure the girl was asleep, he gently shifted, putting the guitar away in its case and laying back, adjusting the girl until she was laying on his shoulder, snuggled up against him. He never noticed the blond woman, a little girl in her arms, watching with a small smile on her face.

~~~~~~~~

“ _Imagine there’s no heaven…_ ” Sarah turned toward the sound of the man who sat 100 yards away singing as he strummed his guitar. She couldn’t help but smile at the image it created, the man with the guitar singing to the little girl who was clearly fighting sleep. She’d caught glimpses of him throughout the day and heard snippets of conversations between him and the family he was with. From the moment she’d first saw him a distant memory began to tug at her mind. Of a teenaged boy on a beach with windswept curls, a guitar, and a velvety warm voice that had never ceased to make her weak in the knees.

When he’d began to sing, drawing not only her attention, but that of her mother and daughter, any doubts of his identity fled. This was the same boy she’d met and fallen for instantly all those years ago, the one who she never had the opportunity to claim was the one who got away. The physical distance between them back then, which would have increased once he’d gone off to college, and the difference in their ages would have made it difficult to have cultivated a relationship back then. It was clear he lived in the area, if the familiarity between himself and the little girl was to be believed along with the references the girl had made about other possible family members who might have easily been able to join them.

Sarah had kept an eye on the family, especially the man and the little girl, but also kept her distance, not wanting to make her presence known just yet. Now, she watched as he put his guitar aside and pulled the little girl into his arms to snuggle as he dozed along with the little girl that she knew now was his niece. The heavy weight in her arms made it clear his song had also lulled her daughter to sleep. She felt the twinge of regret in her heart watching the care he had toward his niece, knowing he would show the same care and love to his own children someday. She only wished that she could go back and make other choices.

She had been seduced by Bruce Anderson, the suave businessman she met her last year of college. It was clear that all Bruce had been interested in was a physical relationship with the naïve coed. He had been her first, and only, when she told him that she was pregnant, he refused to accept the child was his. He disappeared from her life so quick she nearly saw a smoky outline of his body followed by skid marks from the peal out his feet caused. She regretted the relationship, how easily she’d been sucked in, the only thing she didn’t regret was that the ill-advised relationship had resulted in the best thing in her life, her baby girl. That, however, did not negate the fact that watching her not-so-forgotten first love, however brief their time together, made her wish that Molly had been his. Of course, if it hadn’t been for Molly, she wouldn’t have returned to California; never would have seen him again.

She settled Molly down on the blanket, covered in a small blanket to protect her from the light breeze that had blown in over the ocean, and told her mother she was going to take a walk. Emma assured her that she would watch Molly. She thanked her mother, kicked off her sandals and started down toward the shoreline, the wrap she’d tied around her waist fluttering in the breeze and exposing her right leg, over the hip of which the wrap had been tied.

~~~~~~~~

Chuck had been drifting in and out while Clara dozed in his arms, opening his eyes, he caught sight of a woman walking sedately along the shoreline. She wore a black bikini top and a colorful wrap around her waist that moved with every step she took, the breeze catching it at its own whim. She looked like a Disney princess to his eyes, but he knew that was just a fantasy.

He’d seen her throughout the day with a little girl and an older woman, and she seemed familiar to him somehow. Something about the way she moved, the musical laughter that had drifted over the sound of the surf crashing around them when they were both playing around the ocean with their young charges, that nagged at him. Watching her, brought hazy memories back to mind that never fully clarified, almost like a word caught on the tip of your tongue never fully realized or able to be spoken. Nevertheless, he felt drawn to her somehow.

Knowing he wasn’t likely to get the answers he was looking for at that moment, he allowed himself to drift off once more, enjoying the rare snuggle time he got with his niece before she got too old to want to snuggle with him as she napped. As he slept, his mind drifted to simpler days, a girl with blond hair and an infectious laugh, a sandy beach and a school auditorium. Not enough time together, attempts to stay in contact that quickly fell apart. He hadn’t thought of that time in years, the wisp of a memory more of a dream than an actual recollection when it ever came drifting back to him.


	3. Chapter 3

Sarah returned a half an hour later, a soft sided case in her hand. Her mother simply raised an eyebrow at her in question, “What?” She protested the look, “I have to practice, the season opening is in just over a month.”

The look on her mother’s face said she wasn’t buying what her daughter was trying to sell but wasn’t going to say anything either. Emma couldn’t help but smile at the defiant look on her daughter’s face as the younger woman opened the case and pulled out her practice instrument, quietly checking the tuning, before pulling out her bow and quietly beginning to play a beautiful melody. If her daughter had been much younger, she could imagine her sticking her tongue out at her as she played. The image causing Emma to chuckle as she listened to her daughter play.

~~~~~~~~~

Chuck awoke, stretching slowly so as to not awaken Clara if she was still sleeping. Opening his eyes a slit, he realized that Clara was no longer curled up against his side. He sat up and looked out over the beach to see his sister, brother-in-law, and niece chasing each other through the surf as they laughed. He smiled at them and waved when they waved to him, before standing, picking up his guitar case and ambling over to a bench that sat along the jogging path.

He laid his case on the ground in front of and just to the right of where he sat and pulled out his guitar. He played for a while, alternating between current pop tunes, older favorites, and a melody he had come up with that he always had thought of as ‘her song.’ Every once in a while, a passerby would stop, listen for a moment, then drop a few coins or bills in his case before continuing on. He didn’t know how long he’d played but just as he’d finished a tune and was about to start another, he sensed someone sit beside him.

He saw toes that had been painted a bright red in a pair of black thong sandals, a long leg sticking out from beneath a wrap, and a glimpse of skin between the wrap and a black top. That was all the further he’d gotten when he heard the first notes of ‘Dueling Banjos,’ but played on a violin. Without stopping to think, he immediately played the response, the violinist played the next set, and he followed, they went back and forth a couple more times before he got the courage to turn toward his new partner in musical crime.

The deep blue eyes that met his nearly took his breath away. The smile on his face grew as he saw the mischievous grin on the young woman’s face.

“Jenny?” He gasped, recognizing the woman who had haunted his hazy memories and dreams for the past 10 years. He couldn’t believe he’d found her again after losing her all those years ago.

“Hi Charlie,” She smiled warmly at him, “It’s good to see you again.”

Chuck sat in awestruck wonder as he took all of her in. Her once short, frizzy, dirty blonde, hair was now longer, long enough that it fell in rich golden waves past her shoulders from the ponytail she had bound it back in. Her eyes were still the ever shifting, mesmerizing, blue that his memory was bringing into sharp relief. Her face was a little thinner, her lips were still the same shade of kissable dusky rose they had been when they were younger, her smile revealed the perfectly straight teeth thanks to the braces she’d once worn.

Her body had filled out a little since they’d last met, but in the most pleasant of ways. She had been slim back then, but her body had softened a bit as her curves filled in. Chuck tried not to stare at the swell of her breasts beneath her halter bikini top. The ripple of her abs could be seen just faintly beneath the skin of her torso where it dipped below the tie of her wrap. He’d noticed earlier that her hips had also gotten a little fuller. He assumed many of the changes he’d noticed had to do with the little girl he’d seen her playing with along the beach. It was the same types of changes anyone who had known his sister, before and after she’d had Clara, had seen occur nearly five years before.

“You look, wow,” Chuck stammered, “You are more beautiful than I remembered.”

“You don’t look half bad, yourself, Charlie,” She grinned at him, an appreciative glance taking him in from his sexily rumpled curls, to the bit of stubble he sported on his cheeks. His shoulders were broader and even with his shirt on, she could see the muscle definition along his arms, chest, and stomach. The combination of playing in the sun just an hour or so before combined with the humidity of the ocean air causing the fabric of his shirt to cling to him. His legs were likewise muscular, like that of a swimmer or a runner, and on his feet were his ever-present Chucks. “I’d say you grew up quite nicely.”

“Thank you,” Chuck blushed at the compliment, “But you should know, folks around here call me Chuck.”

“I go by Sarah now,” She gave a small shrug, “Long story, I’ll tell you later.”

“Okay,” Chuck nodded, “So you wanna try again for old time’s sake?”

“I’d love to,” She smiled up at him, “Shall I start?”

“It’s all you, Baby,” Chuck gave her a flirty smile as she lifted the violin and bow up and began to play an upbeat tempo which caused Chuck to throw his head back and let out a laugh.

“Alright, this is how you want to play it?” He teased her, only to get a flirtatious wink back, “Fine, we’ll play it your way. _Devil went down to Cali, he was looking for a soul to steal…_ ”

By the time their version of ‘Devil Went Down to Georgia’ had finished, a small crowd had gathered in front of them. So that they could be seen by everyone there, they stood, Chuck assisted Sarah as she stepped up on the bench before following her up. He could see his sister and brother-in-law along with Clara, who was sitting on her father’s shoulders, staring in amazement over the heads of the others gathered there as Sarah played the first verse of ‘Hallelujah,’ as a prelude. Just as before, Chuck joined in and began singing from the top, which drew even more on lookers.

To his left, he saw an older woman, a blond toddler held in her arms approach and point towards Sarah. The toddler grinned and clapped, which caused Sarah to smile. Chuck knew this had to be Sarah’s mother and daughter. As they had done all those years ago on the beach in San Diego, they both dropped out while Chuck sang the last verse and chorus acapella.

The crowd broke into cheers and applause as they took each other’s hand and bowed to the audience who had accumulated. While he still held her hand, Chuck jumped down from the bench and assisted her down from her perch. He kissed her hand and waited until she was nearly all the way back to her mother and daughter before hopping back up on the bench and playing the opening lines to ‘Your Song.’

He saw her eyes widen and a blush rise up from her chest to color her cheeks as she listened to him sing. His eyes never left hers as he continued to sing directly to her as if they were the only two people on the beach. When he got to the section regarding her eyes, he belted the line out, causing the crowd to cheer their applause. As he drew closer to the end, he noticed she had begun to migrate back toward him, her violin long since having been passed to her mother. He stepped down from the bench and walked toward her, singing the last verse, by the time he got to the ending lines, he’d pushed his guitar around on the strap so the body of his instrument lay against his back. He took both her hands in his as he sang, “ _I hope you don’t mind; I hope you don’t mind, that I put down in words. How wonderful life is, now you’re in the world…_ ” The crowd went wild as he dipped his head to capture her lips, unaware of the clicking of camera phones or the shocked look on their families’ faces.

~~~~~~~~~

“You’re insane, you know that, right?” Sarah laughed as she watched Chuck collect the money that had accumulated in his case and put his guitar away.

“I’ve heard rumors,” He shrugged, sipping the case closed and looping the strap over his shoulder. When the crowd had started to dissipate, realizing the impromptu show was over, Sarah’s mom had handed Molly to her and let her know she was going to put the violin away. Molly now sat propped on Sarah’s hip as she walked alongside Chuck. “But it was worth it, I figured if we part ways again, this way you won’t forget me.”

“Chuck,” Sarah paused, grabbing his hand to turn him back toward her, “I never forgot you. I’m sorry we lost touch, shortly after we parted ways, a series of unfortunate events occurred that resulted in me losing your contact information.”

“Sarah,” Chuck sighed, “It’s okay, I can understand if you moved on, which you clearly did,” He motioned toward the little girl in her arms. “I tried to, too, but it didn’t exactly work out as well for me.”

“Didn’t work out so well for me either,” Sarah gave him a sad smile, “I’d like to explain it all to you, if you want to hear it.”

“I’d like that,” Chuck gave her a small smile, “I’d actually like that a lot. Why don’t we make a date of it?” He suggested, “Tomorrow night, maybe?”

“Tomorrow night won’t work,” Sarah shook her head, “I have to work early on Monday.” When she saw the sad look on Chuck’s face, she amended the statement, “But I’m available for lunch.”

The smile on his face could have lit up the beach if the sun wasn’t still shining down on them, “I can do lunch. If you give me your address, I can pick you up say around 12:30?”

“Do you have your cellphone with you?” She inquired.

“I think it’s on my blanket,” He cast his eyes about looking toward where he thought the blanket had been, but it was now just a blank space. He kept looking until he heard Sarah laughing. “What?”

“Um,” She pointed to where her blanket was set up, another blanket and umbrella had been moved next to it. A group of three adults, an older woman and a young couple, accompanied by a five-year-old girl with sandy blond hair stood waving at them from their joint set up.

“Oh boy,” Chuck groaned, “I see Ellie and Awesome found your mom.”

“Or my mom found them and invited them over,” Sarah chuckled, shaking her head, “She’s been trying to set me up since I moved back to LA. My last relationship was kind of a disaster.” When Chuck gave her a curious look, she continued, “It’s kind of an extension of the long story.”

Chuck nodded in understanding, “Alright, so the way I see it, we have two options, we can cut and run, or we can walk over there and endure whatever torture they’ve devised for us in the past 15 minutes.”

“Well, we’re kinda living with my mom right now,” Sarah gave a small shrug, “So at some point I have to go back to change my clothes.”

“I kinda like what you’re wearing right now,” Chuck grinned, letting his eyes sweep over her from head to toes and up again.

“Be that as it may,” She rolled her eyes at his antics, “at some point it’s gonna get a little chilly to be running around in nothing but a bathing suit, wrap, and sandals.”

“Point taken,” Chuck nodded, “So, suck it up and get on with it?”

“I think that’s the only way through,” Sarah agreed, squeezing his right hand in her left.

“Let’s do this,” Chuck nodded, a determined look on his face. Sarah couldn’t help but laugh at him as they made their way toward their families to endure the next round of 20,000 questions and, more importantly, exchange contact info in preparation for their date the next day.

As it turned out, Emma already knew Ellie and Devon from the hospital where they all worked. Emma had met both of them as they had been called into the pediatric ward where she worked to consult on a few of her patients. As Chuck and Sarah later found out, before their beach trip, Emma and Ellie had already been scheming up a way to introduce them, much to Devon’s protest. Thankfully, for them, their randomly mutual beach trips had removed any preconceived plans, allowing Chuck and Sarah to meet, or actually, reconnect naturally.


	4. Chapter 4

“Mom!” Emma rushed upstairs at the panicked sound of her daughter’s voice. Entering Sarah’s room, she found it in shambles. Nearly all the drawers in her dresser had been pulled out and at least partially emptied, and it looked like half the contents of the closet had been laid out on the full-sized bed that her daughter hadn’t yet bothered to make that morning.

“Oh my,” Emma tried to hold back the surprised laugh that bubbled up within her, “What on Earth happened here?”

“I have nothing to wear,” Sarah complained.

“I think the complete lack of floor or bed space speaks to the contrary, Sweetheart,” Emma gave her daughter a soft smile.

“It’s not funny, Mom,” Sarah pouted, “I don’t know what to wear for my date with Chuck.”

“So that’s what all this is about,” Emma nodded knowingly, “What did you wear the first time you met him?”

“I don’t know, Mom,” Sarah huffed, “It was so long ago, probably jeans or a skirt and a t-shirt since we met at Coronado Beach? But I’m not a teenager anymore, I can’t get away with that anymore. I’m a grown woman, with a daughter... what if he doesn’t want to be with me because I had another man’s child? Have I ruined my chances with one of the last good men...?”

“Sarah, sweetheart, you’re spiraling,” Emma reached for her daughter’s hands, giving them a reassuring squeeze, “You need to take a breath before you start hyperventilating. I know you are nervous about seeing him again after so long apart. But I doubt he is planning anything too fancy for a lunch date, casual dress, I’m sure, will be fine.” Emma cast her eyes around the room before spotting a good option, she released her grip on her daughter’s hands, “Here, this should work,” She handed her daughter a pale blue summer dress with pastel flowers on it and a grey sweater, “You can wear your brown flats or even those cute sandals you just got.”

Sarah looked at the clothes her mother had laid out on her dresser for her, she had to admit it was a good outfit. The pale blue complimented her eyes well, or at least that’s what the lady at the boutique had said when she had tried it on, and the dress was nice enough for a date, but still fairly casual. Her mom was right, it was the perfect outfit for her date.

“Now as to the other nonsense about him not wanting to be with you because you had a baby with some idiot who didn’t know a good thing when he had it,” Emma took her daughter’s face in her hand, lifting it so that their eyes met, “He knew, or at least had an inkling that, you had a daughter when he asked you out; I doubt Molly was any kind of deterrent. From what his sister has told me, and after seeing you two together yesterday, I doubt that it made any difference to him. He’s a good man, Sarah. My advice to you, Baby, is to just relax and see where the day takes you.”

“Okay,” Sarah slowly nodded.

“Now, go, take a shower, get dressed,” Emma instructed, “I’ll deal with the fallout of Hurricane Sarah.”

“Okay,” Sarah nodded, pulling some underwear and a bra out of one of the open drawers before collecting the outfit her mother had picked out, "Thanks, Mom.”

“You’re welcome, Sweetie, now get,” Emma nodded, a smile on her face as she watched her daughter make her way down the hall to the bathroom.

~~~~~~~~~

“Chuck?” He heard Ellie call from downstairs and quietly cursed the moment he gave her his spare keys. It was meant for emergencies, but not hearing from him in 24 hours often constituted an emergency for his older sister. “Are you up there?”

“Elle, I’m kinda busy at the moment,” He called before turning back to the mirror he was using as he shaved so as to not accidentally nick himself. Thankfully, he was rinsing his razor when the bathroom door swung open, revealing his sister with her hand over her eyes causing him to roll his own. “You can uncover your eyes, I’m decent.”

Ellie slowly uncovered her eyes one finger at a time to see her brother standing by the sink, a partial foam beard on his face, a towel around his bare shoulders, wearing a pair of nice jeans, and bare feet. “I hope you plan to put on a shirt before you go meet your violinist.” She smirked at him.

“Yes, Ellie, I have a shirt picked out, it’s in my room,” Chuck shook his head exasperatedly and turned back to finish shaving.

“Which one?” She pressed.

“The green button-down,” He informed her, running the blade down his cheek before rinsing it in the sink and repeating the process a few more times until his face was finally clean. He turned on the taps, ignoring his sister’s evaluating stare, and rinsed his face off before patting it dry with the towel around his shoulders and making sure to wipe away any remaining shaving cream with the towel before tossing it in the hamper by the door.

“You need a haircut,” Ellie pointed out, “Your hair is starting to make funny animal shapes again.”

“My hair is fine, Ellie,” Chuck huffed, he hated having this same conversation every couple months. Yes, his hair was on the longer side, and true, he could use a bit of a trim soon, but it didn’t look that bad. He threw on a brown shirt with ‘I aim to misbehave’ written across the chest before pulling on his button-down shirt.

Ellie rolled her eyes at his choice of t-shirt but smiled when he started buttoning up the top shirt. He rolled up the sleeves to just below his elbows and took a few steps over to his dresser to grab socks before putting them and his typical black chucks on. Once his laces were tied, he stood and smiled at his sister. “So, do I pass inspection?”

“Do you have time for a haircut?” She challenged.

“No, I do not,” Chuck shook his head.

“Then you are as good as you can get while still being a bit scruffy looking.” She sighed.

“Who are you calling scruffy lookin’?” Chuck gave her a teasing smirk, which caused his sister to roll her eyes at him.

“You’re such a dufus,” Ellie groaned, “Go pick up your date, weirdo.”

“On my way,” Chuck grabbed his watch, securing it to his wrist before grabbing his wallet and keys from where they sat on his dresser and heading down the stairs, calling back to his sister to have her lock up on her way out.

~~~~~~~~~

The drive to Sarah’s house, or rather the house she lived in with her mother, hadn’t been very long. As it turned out, their home was only a few miles away from Chuck’s condo, and a 10-minute drive, which meant that he was pulling into their driveway in little more than a blink of an eye. Chuck sat, looking up at the two-story white house with the red door and white picket fence for a moment before taking a deep breath, he grabbed an item from the passenger seat, and opening the door to unfold his tall body from his seat. He locked and armed the car before climbing the stairs to the front porch upon which sat a wicker love seat and chair. He wondered for a moment if that was Jenny’s, or rather, Sarah’s choice or if it was her mother’s. He took one last calming breath and raised his hand to knock on the door.

He only had to wait a moment for the door to be opened. Chuck didn’t know if he was surprised or disappointed that it was Emma, Molly on her hip answering the door rather than Sarah.

“Good Afternoon, Mrs. Walker,” Chuck greeted her politely, “Is Sarah ready?”

Emma smiled softly at the young man standing before her, a bouquet of what looked to be gardenias gently grasped in his hands as if it was taking most of his mental faculties to avoid crushing the delicate blooms. She gave half a thought to giving him a hard time, but between watching him and his niece playing, his mini performance with her daughter, and the time their families spent together the previous afternoon, she knew him to be a nice boy, sensible, respectful, and an all-around good guy. She also couldn’t deny how happy his mere presence caused her daughter to be. She shifted Molly to her left side so she could extend her right hand, which he took and shook firmly.

“Chuck, I told you yesterday,” She gave him a small smile, “You may call me Emma. Mrs. Walker was my mother.”

“Very well, Emma, then,” Chuck smiled warmly at her before turning his gaze to the little girl in her arms, “And good day to you, Miss Molly.”

To Emma’s surprise, Molly, her shy, cautious, quiet granddaughter let out a happy shriek and practically threw herself into Chuck’s arms. Thankfully the man had quick reflexes and caught the girl before she took a full tumble out of her grandmother’s arms.

“Nice catch,” She complimented the young man who was still standing on her porch, only now with an 18-month--old in his arms.

“My brother-in-law’s frat buddies have pulled me into more than a few games of football over the years,” He shrugged, “I also grew up in little league, and then there’s Clara…”

Emma could tell that was all the explanation she was going to get on the matter and invited Chuck in. She told him to make himself comfortable in the living room while she went up to check on Sarah. When she returned, she stopped on the bottom step, out of the line of sight, and watched Chuck and Molly interact. She smiled softly at the adoring look the toddler was sending Chuck’s way, and from the look on his face, the adoration was mutual.

“What are you looking at?” She heard her daughter approach.

“Shh,” She hushed her daughter and pointed toward the living room. What Sarah saw there just about melted her. The ease at which Molly had accepted Chuck into her life was remarkable as she had always been really shy and standoffish with strange men, not that there was any reason for her to be. However, she took to Chuck almost instantly, she had seen little glimpses of it at the beach the day before, the flirty eyes and smiles the little girl kept sending Chuck’s way. Although, if she were honest, Molly probably was initially copying her own behaviors toward the attractive software developer.

It was at that moment, that Chuck happened to look over his shoulder and caught the Walker women watching him. His smile broadened, and he stood, moving Molly to rest on his left hip as if it was the most natural thing in the world to him, while his right hand picked up the small bouquet of gardenias he’d brought with him. She saw his eyes drift down, and then back up her body, taking in her choice of clothing before his eyes returned to hers.

“Wow, you look amazing,” He grinned, “I brought these for you.” He held out the flowers.

“Thank you,” Sarah smiled back, taking the last few steps from the stairs and crossing the room to where he stood, “And thank you, gardenias are my favorite flower.”

“Nice, got it in one!” His grin grew larger, if that was even possible. “Are you ready to go?”

“Let me put these in a vase first,” Sarah turned an went toward the kitchen where she pulled a vase from under the sink and filled it with water before popping the flowers into the container and turning back to Chuck with a grin, “Let’s go!”

Chuck handed Molly back to Emma and then offered his arm to Sarah, who kissed her daughter and mother on their cheeks and linked her arm through his while she looped the strap of her purse over her free shoulder. As they stepped onto the driveway, Sarah pulled up short, “Oh my God, is that your car?”

Chuck’s silver 2005 Aston Martin DB9 sat with the black soft top retracted and nestled behind the seats, “Um, yeah,” He shrugged shyly, “My first project did really well, and Ellie insisted I splurge a bit on myself.”

“It’s quite the splurge,” Sarah spoke softly as Chuck shrugged. A soft smile spread on her face as he opened the door for her and waited for her to settle into the seat before closing the door after her.

Once he had rounded the car and gotten behind the wheel, he returned her small smile, “Well, she may have found out that I’d paid off a chunk of hers and Devon’s student loans before making her suggestion.”

“Most people would start with their own loans, maybe buy a house…” Sarah raised an eyebrow at him as he pulled out of the driveway and headed down the street.

“Don’t have need of a house, at least not yet,” Chuck shrugged. “It’s just me and I’d already moved into my own place by then. Granted it’s in the same complex as my sister, but it’s my own separate condo.”

“So instead you decided to drive around like James Bond?” Sarah gave him a teasing look.

“Ellie picked it out,” He chuckled, “Said that the Matrix and CR-V I was looking at didn’t look like vehicles that a successful software developer would drive, and then proceeded to call the Prius a douche-mobile.”

Sarah couldn’t help but laugh at the statement. “I can’t see you driving a Matrix, they are so small, I can’t imagine you having to fold yourself into one, same goes for the Prius. I think the CR-V would have been a good choice for you. Simple, unassuming, just like you. But going from that to this is like going from a Cessna to a F-22 in one move.”

“Speaking of,” Chuck grinned as he merged onto the highway to find it nearly empty. He used the pedal shifts on the steering wheel as he accelerated down the stretch of road, throwing them back in their seats. “It’s a kick in the pants, ain’t it?” He laughed before reducing his speed and taking the next exit.

“You are crazy, you know that?” Sarah shook her head in amusement as Chuck gave her a cheeky grin and turned onto a surface street. A moment later, he was pulling into the parking lot of a shopping center.

He navigated the car into a parking spot and walked around to open the door for Sarah, who accepted his assistance out of the car, as her legs were still a bit shaky from their near sonic speed down the highway. When she was finally steady on her feet, Chuck closed the door and armed the car, offering his arm to her as he led her through the lot toward some of the smaller store fronts. She gave him a curious look when she saw where he was taking her.

“Lou’s Deli?” She inquired.

“They have the best selection of meats and cheeses I’ve ever tasted,” Chuck insisted, “And it tends to be quiet on Sunday afternoons. I used to sit in one of the booths and work when I was first starting out, Lou didn’t mind too much so long as I ate something new every time and gave my honest opinion on the sandwich.”

“So, is Lou a friend of yours?” Sarah inquired as Chuck opened the door and guided her in, his hand on her lower back. He had only just opened his mouth to respond when a voice rang out through the small establishment.

“Charles Irving Bartowski!” Their eyes snapped up to see a petite brunette woman standing, hands on her hips, an eyebrow raised in challenge, “You have some nerve coming in here after vanishing without a trace.”

Sarah looked up at Chuck in curiosity, wondering who this woman was and why she was so upset with Chuck vanishing on her. What perplexed her even further was the smirk on Chuck’s face and the amused twinkle in his eye as he feigned humility. “I’m so sorry,” Chuck raised his free hand in surrender, “But in my defense, I finally got an office to work in rather than taking up one of your tables.”

“And when did I ever say I minded you ‘taking up one of my tables?’” The woman’s brow arched higher into her hairline, if that was even possible. “I lost my best taste tester when you left, without a word. Do you have any idea how many times your taste buds saved my ass?”

“I’m sorry Lou,” Chuck placated, although the look on his face did not look apologetic at all, “How about we make it up to you? You can make myself and my lovely companion here two of your newer creations and we will give you our opinions. Sound fair?”

“Fine,” Lou huffed, rolling her eyes, “Go take a seat, I’ll bring you out a couple to try.”

“You’re a saint, Lou Pallone,” Chuck teased as he led Sarah over to a booth and waited for her to sit before taking his seat as well.

“So that’s Lou?” Sarah asked, still trying to rectify the petite woman with the image of a large guy in a stained apron she’d had in her head the first time Chuck had mentioned Lou.

“That’s Lou,” Chuck confirmed, “We’ve known each other for a while now. She was a couple grades behind me in high school, and we ran in different crowds, so we didn’t really meet until a few years later. I was working in the Nerd Herd at the Buy More over the summer between my sophomore and junior years of college when her blackberry broke, she brought it into the Nerd Herd to see if we could fix it.”

“He really saved my ass,” Lou added, setting down plates and two bottles of water in front of them, “I would have lost all my recipes if he hadn’t been able to fix it.”

“Heard from your Nana lately?” Chuck smirked.

“Yes,” She smiled, “Said she’s making a blanket for the little one, insisted she’s still up to it, arthritis be damned. Although, whether or not it will be ready in time is still yet to be seen. The turkey is just about done.”

“I noticed. You look like you’re about ready to pop,” Chuck grinned at the deli owner who placed her left hand over her protruding stomach, wedding and engagement rings winking in the midday light streaming through the nearby window. “How is George doing?”

“He’s good,” Lou nodded, “His best friend Lavon is coming up from Bluebell so he’s happier than a pig in slop.”

Chuck snickered at the turn of phrase, “I see George is rubbing off on you in more ways than one.”

“Shut up!” Lou lightly smacked Chuck’s shoulder, “Now are you going to keep teasing me, or are you going to introduce me?”

“Of course, Lou, please meet Sarah Walker,” Chuck gestured to his date, “Sarah, I’d like you to meet Lou Pallone.”

“It’s actually Lou Tucker now, and he well knows it.” Lou corrected as she held out a hand to Sarah, who firmly shook it. “It’s nice to meet you Sarah, it’s been a while since Chuck has brought any one here… actually, come to think, the last time was about five years ago in college. What was her name? Jezebel?”

“Jill,” Chuck corrected flatly, “And I’d rather not discuss her, if you don’t mind.”

“If you won’t, then I will,” Lou stated defiantly, “Long story short, she strung him along for a few years in college and just when he was getting ready to propose, she jumped into bed with his alleged best friend and roommate.”

“Wait,” Sarah’s eyes went wide, “So you’re telling me that his best friend slept with his almost fiancée?”

“Yep,” Lou nodded, “Frat kicked him out, excommunicated him and everything.”

“Oh my God,” Sarah’s eyes narrowed, “If I ever find Morgan…”

She was caught off guard by Chuck, who had taken a sip of his water, did a spit take and coughed. “No!” He quickly corrected, “Not Morgan, he stayed here when I was at Stanford. She’s talking about my best friend from college, Bryce.”

“Even his name sounds douchey,” Lou rolled her eyes, “If he ever shows his face around here. He’s gonna find himself in a world of pain.”

“Lou, how about we change the subject,” Chuck suggested, “What have you brought us?”

“Alright, I’ll humor you,” Lou rolled her eyes, letting the prior topic of conversation drop, “I haven’t found a name for these just yet, but this one is turkey and muenster, grilled on egg bread.” She motioned to the first plate that had a sandwich that had already been divided in two before gesturing to the other plate with a hot sandwich also cut in half, “The other is end cut pastrami with coleslaw and muenster on seedless rye, grilled ruben style. Give ‘em a try and let me know what you think.”

“Will do,” Chuck agreed.

“It was nice to meet you Sarah,” Lou smiled at the woman who clearly had eyes only for Chuck.

“It was nice to meet you too,” Sarah grinned, “I appreciate the food, and the background information.”

“It’s no problem, just make sure you guys come back,” Lou nodded, “I wasn’t kidding when I said he was my best taste testing guinea pig.”

“If these are any bit as good as Chuck made them out to be, we’ll be back,” Sarah promised. Lou gave her a small smile and turned to waddle back behind the counter where she joined the rest of her crew in making sandwiches for their newly arrived customers.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, enjoying both of Lou’s newest creations before Chuck spoke again, “So, how did Jenny become Sarah?

Sarah sighed, taking a long drink from her water, “It’s all a part of the long story I promised you.” When Chuck stayed silent, waiting patiently for her to continue, she gave him a small smile and launched into the explanation. “I don’t think I ever told you what my father did for a living when we first met.”

“You mentioned he traveled a lot, which meant you moved quite often,” Chuck supplied.

“What I didn’t mention was that every move was basically us escaping,” Sarah shook her head sadly, “My father was a con man, so every time a con went south we wound up leaving in the middle of the night with whomever he swindled, the cops, often both, hot on our heels. With every new city came a new name.

“When we met, my father was in the middle of a long con that had started that previous year. A couple months after the competition, my father’s past deeds finally caught up with him. Not only were the feds after him, but he had cheated some pretty bad men out of a lot of money.” She sighed, “My father was able to convince the feds that I had nothing to do with his current cons. Truth be told, when I first went with him, I did participate, but I didn’t really know what I was doing until later. When I figured it out, I refused to join in on his cons. The feds were able to track down my mom and put both of us under witness protection and changed our names to Sarah and Emma Walker in case the bad guys wanted to come after me. I moved back in with my mom who was living in Pasadena at the time, finished high school, and went onto college.”

“Where did you go to school?” Chuck inquired, taking a bite of his sandwich.

“Columbia,” Sarah blushed, “I got a full ride music scholarship.”

“Impressive,” He grinned, “I knew you were good enough to get out from the middle of the section. Did you like it there?”

“The winters were brutal, but it opened up opportunities for me,” Sarah shrugged, “If I hadn’t gone there, I wouldn’t have been invited to solo in the opening concert for the Phil next month.”

“The Phil?” Chuck’s eyebrows shot up, “Wow, that’s a real honor.”

“It is,” She agreed, “But I still haven’t quit my day job assistant directing an orchestra at Burbank High School.”

“What a small world,” He chuckled, “You work with Mrs. Tucker? She was the associate director of my high school’s band!”

“I knew she looked familiar,” Sarah shook her head. “Anyway, I also wouldn’t have had Molly if I hadn’t gone to Columbia. My senior year, I met this guy who swept me off my feet, suave, handsome, but ultimately shallow. When I found out I was pregnant, I told him. The next day, he just vanished.”

“’Vanished?’” Chuck quirked an eyebrow at her, “As in he stopped taking your calls?”

“More than that,” Sarah sighed, “Not only was he not taking or returning my calls, but I went by his apartment and it was completely empty as if everything had been taken out overnight. All that was left was bare walls and plain wood floors.”

“So, you never had the chance to figure out what he wanted to do?” Chuck inquired softly.

“I think his vanishing act more than defines his interest in being in his daughter’s life,” Sarah shook her head disdainfully, “You would think an investment banker would be a good bet to settle down with.”

“I don’t want to overstep my bounds here, and please let me know if I am,” Chuck reached out and took her hand in his own, “But, if you want, I can try to track him down. For no other reason than to sever his paternal rights so that, if you were to meet the right guy, he could adopt Molly.”

“You would do that?” Sarah tilted her head to the side, a soft smile on her lips.

“Of course,” Chuck confirmed, “Not a lot of people know this, but I was a fairly elite hacker in my day. I’m sure I could dust off the old bottle of Rombauer and track him down.”

“What does wine have to do with…” Sarah cut herself off, “Never mind, that’s not important. I meant you would adopt Molly?”

Chuck’s eyes widened as he stared at Sarah in shock, “I… wha… uh… you want…” He continued to stammer a moment before clearing his throat, “It’s a little soon to be deciding on that right now, wouldn’t you think?” He asked nervously, causing Sarah to deflate a little.

“Maybe,” She shrugged slightly, “But I think the fact you were never far from my mind over the past 10 years is proof enough of how important you are to me. I’m not asking you to marry me now or anytime in the future.”

“But you are asking me to make a similarly life-long commitment to your daughter?” Chuck inquired, intrigued by her proposition. “Sarah, might I make a suggestion?”

“I guess,” She shrugged slightly.

“How about I help you track down Molly’s father first,” Chuck gave her a small smile, “Then we can figure out the other stuff. Just so you know, I see you and Molly as a package deal, you can’t get one without the other.” He lifted his eyes to meet hers, “So, for me, it wouldn’t be an either/or thing, it would be an all-or-nothing kind of deal for me and I won’t accept anything less.”

Chuck’s intensity both excited and unnerved her, she was quiet a moment more before smiling up at him, “Thank you. Do you really think you can track him down?”

“Even when trying to stay off the radar, there is always some kind of digital trail to a person,” Chuck explained sagely, “Unless you’re Amish, but even they have their rumspringa…”

Sarah couldn’t help but laugh at him and roll her eyes. “You’re ridiculous.”

“No, I’m Chuck, I know we’ve met before,” He smirked and gave her an abbreviated eyebrow dance.

“Well at least we know you have the lame jokes down,” She chuckled, “So what all would you need to find him?”

“As much information as you have,” Chuck explained, “The more information I have the better trace I can set up. So, full name, if you know it, last known residence, phone number, email address; does he have any family still alive and if so, where do they live and what are their names?”

Sarah nodded as Chuck continued to list items that would allow him to set a firm foundation for his research into the location of Molly’s biological father. When he paused and looked at her expectantly, she realized he was waiting for what little information she had.

“His name was Bruce Anderson,” She sighed in resignation, “When I knew him, he lived in some high-end apartment in Manhattan, The Dorchester, I think. His email was just his name at google.com. His phone was disconnected a day or so after I found his gutted apartment, but it is still pretty easy to remember (212)555-5212. I think he was an only child, parents were never mentioned, don’t know if that meant they were dead or just not in contact… I wish I could give you more, but I really didn’t know him very well. I know you, as you are today, better than I ever knew him. I know that sounds awful to say about the man who fathered my child, but it doesn’t negate the fact that it is just that.”

“Alright,” Chuck nodded, taking note of the information she had given him, “I’ll see what I can do.”

“I appreciate it,” Sarah gave him a soft smile, “Even if you can’t find anything. I didn’t put his name on the birth certificate, but I just don’t want any issues if anyone were to come into Molly and my life and want to make it a permanent type deal.”

“I get it,” Chuck gave her a small smile, “If he severs his rights, that’s one less thing for you to worry about.”

“Exactly!” Sarah nodded, “Anyway enough of that. What do you like doing when you aren’t creating video games?”

“I wish I could say it’s something cool like base jumping or rock climbing,” Chuck shrugged, “But I leave all that kind of stuff up to my brother-in-law. Honestly, in the rare moments when I’m not creating video games, I’m playing them, usually with Morgan. However, if things go my way that might be changing a little.”

“Oh really?” She teased, “How so?”

“Well, I met, or rather, re-met this amazing woman on the beach,” He smirked coyly, “Not the same beach where I had met her the first time, but on a beach, nonetheless. She’s still as funny, smart, kind, not to mention just as amazingly beautiful as she was the first time I met her. We kinda lost touch over the years, and she has this amazingly adorable little girl now, but I think I’m gonna enjoy spending time with them, getting to know them and her again. That’s assuming, she’s interested in spending more time with me.”

“Well, if you ask me, she’d have to be a complete idiot to not want to spend more time with you,” Sarah grinned up at him, “If she were me, she would love to get to know you better too. Get to know you as you are now, and what has changed or is the same as when you were in high school.”

“I’d like that,” Chuck smiled warmly at her, reaching out and taking her hand in his, giving it a light squeeze.

“I’d like that too,” Sarah nodded, reflecting his smile back to him.

“Oh, for the love of…” They heard Lou huff from behind the counter, “Just kiss already!”

“I think we should do as she says,” Chuck snickered.

“I think so too,” She agreed standing slightly and leaning over the table to meet Chuck, who was doing the same. The moment their lips met, she felt the same sensation she did the first time. Peace with a bit of reverence, love, passion, and for the first time, the overwhelming knowledge that she was home. When they’d finally separated, she cleared her throat, “Well, at least that hasn’t changed much.”

“No, it hasn’t,” He agreed, “Do you want to get out of here? Away from the peanut gallery?”

“I would love to,” Sarah nodded, taking his offered hand and following him out the door.


	5. Chapter 5

Chuck stretched his arms over his head with a large yawn before twisting in his chair to release the tension that had built up in his lower back; groaning with pleasure as he heard and felt the popping in his lower spine. It had been three weeks since he had started on his journey to locate Sarah’s ex. At first, it was part time as he wrapped up the last of his work on the game he’d been working on, but once that was completed, he dove head-first into the search. Whatever time wasn’t spent at work, with his family, or Sarah, was spent trying to track down Bruce Anderson.

The first thing he found out was that Bruce Anderson, or at least the iteration that Sarah knew, did not exist, nor did the shell company that paid for the apartment she had mentioned. The phone number was to a burner that had long been inactive and had been purchased in cash at a bodega that had been a few blocks from the apartment building that ‘Bruce’ had inhabited for the brief duration of his fling with Sarah.

After exhausting all vaguely legal avenues of locating the man, Chuck had resorted to the dark web, back channels, and hacking to gain more information. Slowly but surely, he had managed to break down the holes in the back story of the man who had introduced himself into Sarah’s life as Bruce Anderson. The shell company led to more shell companies, until finally those shell companies led back to Washington, the CIA to be exact. Once he’d found that out, it had slowed his process down. Knowing that, if he stayed too long in the governmental servers, he was bound to be noticed. This meant he had to limit himself to brief 15-minute forays into the covert agency’s systems.

He was close to attaining his goal, but knew he had to be careful. He would have to deep-dive into the CIA’s systems, to avoid being tracked, he’d have to relay his signal through multiple ports, sometimes more than few times to keep the techs from locating him with any kind of relative ease. However, before setting up the complicated net of relays that would be required for this deep dive, he needed to be able to concentrate, wake up a little, and for that he desperately needed coffee.

Walking out of his in-home office and into his small kitchen, he smelled the coffee he hadn’t remembered putting on. “You look like hell,” The voice made him jump.

“Ellie!” He sighed with a slight growl in his voice, “What are you doing here, you startled me.”

“We were out of coffee,” She shrugged, “So I figured I’d come over and co-op some of yours.”

“Ellie, that key was for emergencies only,” He groused, shuffling into the kitchen and retrieving a mug from the cupboard and poured himself a cup of the strong coffee his sister had brewed before doctoring it to his liking, ignoring the fact she was staring at him the whole time.

“Okay, spill,” Ellie demanded, “What is going on with you? You look like you haven’t slept for days, and I know the game has been finished for a while now. What is keeping you up this time?”

“Sarah,” Chuck murmured, sitting at the table and quietly sipping his coffee.

“Okay… didn’t need to know that,” Ellie grimaced a little.

“Oh my God, not like that,” He protested, “Not that I wouldn’t want to… but it wasn’t that, we’re not there yet. I offered to help her find her ex, Molly’s father.”

“Oh, Chuck,” Ellie slipped into the seat beside him and placed her hand over his, squeezing it sympathetically. “I thought you guys were doing okay.”

“What are you talking about?” Chuck challenged, arching an eyebrow at his older sister, “We’re doing fine. On our first date she just happened to mention that if she were ever to meet someone who wanted to be with her for the long haul…”

“You,” Ellie interjected.

“…It might be helpful if she could get her ex to officially relinquish his parental rights,” Chuck explained.

“…So that you could adopt Molly.” Ellie finished for him.

“I didn’t say that,” Chuck protested.

“Who do you think you’re talking to?” Ellie chuckled at his affronted face, “Charles Irving, you have been in love with that girl since you were 18 years old, nearly 10 years apart has done nothing to diminish that fact. A lot of men would run the other way when they realize the love of their life had a child with another man. You, on the other hand, chose to play cyber sleuth to locate said other man, I take it that’s why you have dark circles under your eyes and look like you stuck your finger in an electrical socket.”

“You got me there, sis,” Chuck gave a half-shrug, “I thought it would be a fairly easy thing to do, track down some guy who ghosted on her two years ago. It didn’t take long to figure out that was so very far from what really happened.”

“So, what really happened?” Ellie tilted her head to the side, watching her brother’s face as he explained about what he had, or rather hadn’t, found. He then explained how he’d had to resurrect his hacker persona to get more information, and where that had led.

“You’re telling me that this Bruce guy, or whatever his name is, is involved with the CIA?” Ellie’s eyebrows disappeared into her hairline.

“Yeah,” Chuck nodded, “I very nearly have him identified, the next step will be to locate where he is. But first I have to set up some secure server relays to bounce my signal through so that they can’t find me while I hack their servers. It will take me a while to locate the information I need and can get in and out before they can find where I really am.”

“Chuck, you know I don’t like you doing this,” Ellie advised, “What if you’re caught?”

“Then I guess you’ll be getting your Christmas card from whatever black site they drop me into,” Chuck shrugged non-chalantly.

“That’s not funny,” Ellie gave him an unimpressed look.

“It wasn’t a joke,” Chuck shook his head. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go take a nap and get back to work to locate Sarah’s ex.”

“This discussion is not over, Charles Irving,” Ellie called after her brother as he climbed the stairs to his bedroom.

~~~~~~~~~

The alert on his computer went off, summoning him back to his computer. He slid on the glasses he had worn since the day he surrendered himself to the fact he wasn’t as young as he used to be. Typing in the password and going through the security protocols to access the system of his own design, he quickly pulled up the source of the alert. “Oh boy,” He sighed, the kid was at it again, he didn’t know how long he could shield him from the attention of the covert agencies. The apple most certainly did not fall far from the tree.

He’d already had to convince the kid’s professor at Stanford to obscure his test scores on the subliminal image mid-term which was actually a test on image retention in disguise. If the man hadn’t been a good friend, the attempt would have been wasted. Not to mention if the NSA knew how many times the kid had accessed not only the CIA servers, but theirs as well, he would be drafted so fast his head would spin. He had to admit the kid was good, even without his help, it would be hard for the clandestine agencies to know he had been in their servers at all. Even if they did know how easily he had breached their security protocols, it would have taken them years to find where the hack originated from as, when he was accessing government systems, the kid routed his signal through at least two dozen other servers around the world. However, since he knew the originating source, he only ever watched that terminal.

“Charles what are you up to?” The man grumbled under his breath as he observed how skillfully the kid cut through the digital red tape in order to ferret out the information he was looking for. The man’s eyes widened as the kid’s search of a cover name revealed the actual name beneath. “Oh boy, this is not going to end well.”

~~~~~~~~~

“Seriously?” Chuck huffed disgustedly as he quickly copied the information he was looking for and backed out of the server, his mission accomplished. The name that everything had traced back to was the last name on earth he ever wanted to see or hear... Bryce Freaking Larkin! Of course, it had to be his nemesis at the root of all the issues that popped up in his life.

He knew it wasn’t true, but it just seemed like the man’s name kept popping up, unwanted, in his love life since the day he found Bryce and Jill together in his bed. His brief moment of self-pity passed instantaneously, allowing him to focus on the next step, telling Sarah... about everything.

He would figure out where Bryce was in the morning, but for now, he needed sleep... well maybe a couple fingers of scotch first, but then definitely, sleep.

~~~~~~~~~

Chuck had just come downstairs and poured himself a cup of coffee when he heard an alert from his computer indicating he had an incoming message. Furrowing his brow in curiosity, he made his way to his office and took a seat in his plush desk chair. He typed in the passcodes to access his system and pulled up the message. He was surprised to find it was a live video call, only the video of the originator was nothing but a vague shadow caused by scrolling alphanumeric code.

“Good morning Piranha,” A digitized voice came over the speakers, surprising Chuck, who at least had the good sense to not show it on his face.

“Piranha?” He inquired, trying to keep his upper body still as he typed in the activation codes to start a trace on the call, “I don’t know who you are trying to contact, but this is a private residence, I don’t sell fish here. Perhaps you should try the pet shop in Huntington Beach, I think they have a large selection of exotic fish.”

“I would think you would give more respect and thanks to the person protecting you from the nation’s intelligence agencies,” The digital voice countered.

“Why would I need such protection?” Chuck challenged, “I’m a private citizen living a normal life, nothing that would cause any such organization to take any particular interest in me, unless they were interested in having me develop a security protocol for them. Then again, wouldn’t they have their own programmers on retainer for such a thing?”

“I wouldn’t be so arrogant, if I were you,” The voice reprimanded him, “They don’t know because I disguised your digital signature, although I must applaud you for the security measures. If they knew you were trying to track down your college roommate, the NSA and CIA especially would be in contention over who would arrest and sequester you first.”

“And how would you know?” Chuck raised an eyebrow.

“Because I’ve been keeping an eye on you since the first time you popped up on their radar,” The voice explained, “I have shielded you, discredited you, so that they would lose interest in the highly skilled hacker Piranha. Or should I say burgeoning software mogul, Charles Irving Bartowski?”

Chuck turned white and couldn’t hide his shock, “Who… Who the hell are you?!” He demanded.

“The powers that be know me only by my code name, Orion,” The digital voice said, but the vague undertones of the real speaker’s voice could be softly heard, “I should be honored you remembered the name,” The digital shadow and scrolling code began to fade along with the digital voice, slowly revealing the face of a real person as his voice became clearer, “But you know me better as ‘Dad.’”

“Dad?” Chuck gasped, gob smacked, “What the hell is going on? How… why… where…”

“One thing at a time, Son,” Stephen J. Bartowski gave his son a soft smile, “I don’t know how long I can secure this line and we have much to talk about. Can you meet me? I have a place, off the grid, I can send you the location. However, you must leave your phone, pager, smart watch, anything digital behind. I promise, everything will be explained.”

“I…” Chuck stammered, “I have so much to ask you, where have you been, why did you leave…”

“All will be explained when you get here,” Stephen insisted, “Can you come?”

Knowing he had informed Morgan that he would be working from home that day and the next, he nodded, “Yeah, I’ll meet you.”

“Good,” Stephen nodded, posting a series of directions on the screen that slowly scrolled until it gave the address of the final location, trusting that his son’s eidetic memory would capture everything. He was one of the few people who knew that this was the skill behind all of Chuck’s academic and professional success, the man’s mind was a steel trap, and why he was able to retain so much information in Fleming’s class to the point where he was very nearly forcibly recruited to the CIA his sophomore year. “I will see you when you arrive. I do have one stipulation, stop trying to track Bryce Larkin’s whereabouts.”

“Why?” Chuck inquired, confused, “I am trying to track him down for an important reason.”

“I know why you are trying to find him,” Stephen gave him a small smile, “I would have done the same thing if your mother had a child before meeting me and needed to find it’s father. It’s a commendable thing you are trying to do, Charles, and I will help you by giving you a method to contact him when you get here. But you must stay out of the CIA servers, it’s for your own safety and freedom, please trust me on that.”

“Fine, I will stay out of their servers,” Chuck agreed, “Let me go get dressed and I’ll meet you there.”

“I look forward to seeing you soon,” Stephen nodded and disconnected the call, leaving Chuck staring at a blank screen.

It only took Chuck a moment to get up and dash up the stairs to his room. After a quick shower, shave, and brushing his teeth to rid them of the scuzz and smell remaining from his several fingers of scotch the night before, he quickly got dressed. He pulled on a grey t-shirt with an image of an Atari joystick and ‘Classically Trained’ printed on the front. A blue and navy striped button-down shirt went over top, sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows. He finished off the look with dark wash jeans and his favorite pair of black chucks. He exchanged his smart watch for an analog watch that had been a gift from Ellie and Awesome when he graduated from Stanford with his master’s degree. Grabbing his wallet and his keys, he headed back down the stairs and hopped in his Aston Martin. Accessing the control panel in the car, he entered a few commands, effectively disabling the GPS on the vehicle. Backing out of his parking space, he turned down the road, on his way to see his father in person for the first time in nearly 15 years.


	6. Chapter 6

The drive through Angeles National Forrest didn’t take more than a couple hours. that his father had been living so close had been both a surprise and a disappointment to Chuck as he pulled off the road and onto a lesser known dirt lane that led, ironically past Hermit Falls, to the cabin in which the man who had abandoned him years ago was to meet him. The area was beautiful, peaceful, he had to give his father that, but to be so close but not reach out to his children, Chuck couldn’t fathom why a person would want to do that.

Just off the dirt lane was a gravel path that led up to where the cabin was. The thick copse of trees that lined the gravel path quickly hid the car from view. He pulled his car up beside a dirty jeep and turned off the ignition. He sat for a moment contemplating if he really wanted to knock on the cabin’s door or if he should just start up the car and drive away. It only took a moment for Chuck to realize that driving away without even setting eyes on his father would make him no better than the older man. With a sigh, he opened the door and unfolded himself from the interior. Closing the car door behind him, he stretched, his lower back popping, sending relief up and down his spine, leading him to arch his neck first left than right to release the extra tension that had settled in his neck and shoulders. His adjustments done, he walked around the car and up the steps that led to the cabin’s small porch which held a rustic chair and table.

The moment of truth was upon him. He raised his hand to knock, but just as his hand was about to connect to the door, it swung open revealing the long-missing Stephen J. Bartowski. The man before him looked older, as one does after a decade and a half, his formerly brown hair now bore streaks of grey throughout it, his laugh lines were slightly more creased than they had been, but his eyes were still the same intelligent eyes that Chuck himself saw in the mirror every day. Chuck had heard growing up that he took after his father in many ways, from his looks to his intelligence and curious nature, but it never really hit him how true the statement was until he saw his father standing before him. At least he now knew what he would look like when he hit his mid to late 50’s.

“Charles!” The older man smiled up at him, the look on his face making it clear he didn’t realize the son he remembered might have grown taller than him as the younger man now stood nearly a full head taller than his father. “You made it, come on in, take a seat anywhere. Would you like something to drink? I’ve got coffee, beer, soda…”

“I’m fine, Dad,” Chuck assured him, taking a seat on the well-worn dull cream and yellow floral couch which looked to be a relic from a 1970’s home décor magazine. Stephen returned, two bottles of beer in his hand. Handing one to his son, he took a seat in a nearby chair which was decorated in the same upholstery as the couch. It was clear neither man knew how to start as they proceeded to sit in awkward silence, staring at each other.

“I sure did miss that face,” Stephen sighed, breaking the silence.

“Well, it didn’t take me long to get here,” Chuck pointed out, “Clearly you are close enough you could have come back for a visit.”

“No, I couldn’t,” Stephen shook his head sadly, “For your safety and the safety of your sister, I had to stay away.”

“What possible danger could you have been in?” Chuck challenged, “You were a professor, an inventor, and apparently, if yesterday’s show of digital prowess is any indication, a very skilled hacker.”

“I’m a little more than that,” Stephen admitted, “Charles, there is a great many things you don’t know about me, your mom, what was once the family business that we worked so hard to shield you from.”

“What does Mom have to do with this?” Chuck’s curiosity was piqued. “And how does that relate to the reason you summoned me to some cabin in the middle of nowhere?”

“All in good time, Son,” Stephen admonished him, “I will answer all of your questions if you just let me speak.”

“Fine,” Chuck rolled his eyes and sat back on the couch, nursing the beer in his hand, it was only early afternoon, a little early for him to be drinking, but he had a feeling he would be here for a while, and the beer tasted good after the hot, dry trip through the forest. “Speak away.”

“Thank you,” Stephen nodded, “As you mentioned, I was a professor, a lecturer, first at my alma matter, MIT before I started teaching at UCLA. Your mother’s bosses were able to create a position for me there when they transferred her out to the LA office.”

“What do you mean they created a position for you?” Chuck inquired, a searching gaze trying to discern more from his father’s facial expressions.

“Well, by that point, I was kinda working for them as an agency contractor,” Stephen continued, not acknowledging his son’s question, “You see your mother had originally been my handler, but one thing led to another and then Ellie came along. Normally, such relationships are verboten between handlers and assets, but once we found out about Ellie and eloped, there was not much more they could do. They upgraded my position, first to analyst, then company scientist. What had originally gotten their attention was my thesis project for my doctorate. I theorized that information could be transmitted to, and subsequently stored in, the human brain by using pictures encoded with information not noticeable to the naked eye.

“At first, they just wanted to see if it was doable, and after several years, they wanted proof that we were able to move past theoretical to implementation,” Stephen explained, “A friend of mine, Hartley, volunteered to be a test subject. Your mother and I both tried to talk him out of it, we didn’t feel it was ready, but he insisted, and we were coming up against our deadline to show results or lose funding. I reluctantly gave in and designed a small data packet for him. The original use we were asked to look into was to see if we could implant a personality matrix into the programming, so that agents were less likely to break character and risk operational security. It was only supposed to be temporary, I had built a kill switch of sorts into it, but it failed to deactivate the programming.”

“What happened to your friend?” Chuck asked, concerned for his father’s friend turned human lab rat.

“To this day, he believes he is the person who was in the personality matrix, it’s been nearly 20 years, and my friend who was once a soft spoken, kind, genteel man, is now one of the most ruthless and feared men in the world.” Stephen sighed, “Your mother was meant to be his handler until the programming disengaged. When it didn’t, we tried a few more ways of switching it off, for lack of a better term, but nothing worked. By this time, Hartley’s other persona had taken a… liking… to your mother. Since your mother and I were the only ones who really knew anything about the program, and as I was the programmer, it was decided by the powers that be that your mother would stay with him as his secret handler until the day we can figure out a way to turn off or remove the programming. I didn’t want her to go, but of the two of us, I was more valuable to them as I was the programmer. To them agents like your mom were and are expendable.” Stephen couldn’t keep the disdain for his employers out of his voice.

“What do you mean agents like my mom?” Chuck pressed, “You keep using these phrases like I’m supposed to know what they mean, ‘asset,’ ‘handler,’ ‘agent,’ ‘company scientist,’ and the like. What company did you work for?” Chuck paused a moment when realization hit him, “Wait, did you, do you, work for some intelligence agency like the CIA, FBI, or NSA?”

“You forgot MI5,” Stephen pointed out, “Hartley was MI5, your mom and I were CIA. Your mother had been recruited out of Yale, me out of MIT, Hartley was an Oxford man, himself.”

“Mom was a spy?!” Chuck nearly leapt from his seat, “Is that what you’re are telling me?”

“Technically speaking, she still is,” Stephen shrugged slightly, “Very deep undercover, I cannot tell you where for your own safety, but she has not set foot on US soil for at least 14 years.”

“Wait, 20 years ago… 14 years ago…” Chuck murmured to himself a moment before looking over to his father, “This project of yours is why you both left, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Stephen nodded, “It’s why your mother seemingly vanished without a trace. She would always leave behind her personal items, when she would go, and I knew what she wanted done with them. It’s why I gave you her charm bracelet when you turned 13, and why Eleanor has her pearl jewelry and is holding on to her wedding set for the day you find the right girl. The only thing she ever took with her was that silver necklace you and Eleanor gave her for Mother’s Day a couple years before all this happened. The chain is long enough for her to hide under her clothes, on the same chain is the plain silver ring I bought her in Vegas when we eloped. The set your sister has is the one I bought after you were born, and we’d renewed our vows.”

“So, you’ve explained why Mom had to leave,” Chuck reminded his father, “But why did you have to go too?”

“Alexi, the personality we implanted in Hartley, grew very jealous of me as he had fallen in love with your mother,” Stephen explained, “He ordered me killed so that he would be free to pursue your mother. The day I promised you and your sister pancakes in celebration of her high SAT scores, and then never returned, your mother contacted me. I had a pager that was only for her, she sent the alert code that indicated that a hit had been put out on me. There was a separate one for if you and Eleanor were also in danger, thankfully, Alexi either didn’t remember or didn’t know we had children, so you were safe. To make matters worse, Alexi had sent your mother, herself to kill me, thinking that she was in love with him too and would do anything for him. Instead, she killed her team and told Alexi that I had a CIA team monitoring me that foiled the assassination attempt, she then helped me to get off grid. Luckily, we had contingency plans for what we would do in any given situation. This included setting up accounts to help pay for Eleanor’s and your college education, which should have come to you in the form of Pell grant type programs or scholarships. We knew your sister had access to our bank account, I knew she was balancing the budget while I tinkered away at my projects, and I let her, so that I would know she would take care of things if the need ever were to arise. The annuities you and your sister started receiving when you turned 18 from a distant relative was also part of the plan to help take care of you. Also, when your sister sold the house and moved you into the apartment complex in Van Nuys, we made sure that a few agency contacts also moved in around the same time.”

“Who?” Chuck’s curiosity got the better of him.

“Mr. Lewis, for one,” Stephen admitted, “When his wife passed, he moved to California to be closer to his daughter and son-in-law, Virginia and Warren. He was actually the station chief at the LA CIA office. A while after you left for Stanford, his daughter and her family moved back to New York, and he took the opportunity to move back to DC and teach at the Farm under his agency persona.”

“Who else?”

“Mr. Calavicci and his wife,” Stephen admitted, “The Taskers, and the Turners.”

“That actually makes sense,” Chuck scoffed, “They were the ones who always helped pay for my band tours and uniforms in high school. When Mr. Lewis found out I had to wear a tux for concert competition, he took me to a tailor to have my tux altered, said that a man is not truly a man until he owns a well-fitting tux, a good suit, and can make a perfect martini. I think I still have the white dinner jacket he gave me when I graduated high school, something about it being a good tool in attracting the opposite sex… I don’t know.”

Stephen couldn’t help but chuckle at that, “Back at the Farm, that’s known as the Montgomery; white dinner jacket, bottle of Chateau Margaux, and a red rose. I can’t believe he’s still pushing that.”

“Well, apparently, he is.” Chuck shrugged, “But we’ve gotten off track. While knowing a little more about why you and mom had to leave is all good to know, that’s not the reason I came all the way out here. You said that you could help me locate Bryce Larkin.”

“Yes, I was able to find his universal contact number,” Stephen nodded, “Hopefully, he will do the right thing.”

“Well, he doesn’t really have a history of that,” Chuck sighed, “At least him sleeping with my girlfriend saved me from following through with the worst decision of my life. I really wish he hadn’t met Sarah, but at the same time I don’t, because then we wouldn’t have Molly…”

“Life’s a real kick in the pants sometimes, isn’t it?” Stephen shook his head, a sad smile on his face, “I ought to know.” He got up and retrieved a slip of paper from a desk in the corner that bore some legal pads, a cup of pens and pencils and a picture of their family before he and Mary both left. Returning, he handed the paper to his son. “Well, good luck in getting Bryce to do the right thing, and I hope that someday, if I’m able to, I can see you and Eleanor again. I want to meet this husband of hers, do they have any kids?”

“Yes, a five-year-old girl, name Clara.” Chuck gave a small smile, “They’ve recently been talking about doing Doctors Without Borders, they’ve wanted to do it since med school but then they had Clara. They’re now trying to figure out if they can bring her along. If they had to leave her behind in order to join, I don’t think they would go.”

“Doctors Without Borders is a wonderful program, and I can understand their hesitancy about leaving their daughter behind,” Stephen nodded, “Although if it was only a short time away, I’m sure you would step up to take care of Clara. Maybe that girlfriend of yours can lend a hand.”

“I wouldn’t mind doing that,” Chuck agreed, “But after what we went through with mom and you leaving us as you did, I doubt Ellie would be willing to part with Clara in order to participate.”

“I also hope to meet your family someday.” Stephen pointed out, “I assume that you needing to find Bryce is a means to that end?”

“Something like that,” Chuck admitted, standing as he noticed the waning light outside. The visit had taken longer than he’d anticipated, “I should get going.”

“Yeah, that’s probably for the best, before it gets too dark to see,” Stephen nodded, rising and reaching out his hand to his son. When Chuck took it, his father used it as leverage to pull him in for a hug. “You know I love you, Son, don’t you? I wouldn’t have left if I’d had any other choice. The same goes for your mother.”

“I know, Dad,” Chuck nodded, pulling back and patting his father on his shoulder. “I love you too. I hope we can see each other again someday, hopefully not in another 14 years.”

“I guess we’ll have to see,” Stephen agreed, walking his son to the door, “Drive safe.”

“I will,” Chuck gave his dad a small smile, “Goodbye, Dad.”

“Goodbye, Charles,” Stephen watched as his son walked to his car and started it up. He kept watch as his son’s car slowly made its way back down the gravel path toward the dirt lane that would eventually connect him with the narrow roadway that served the national park. He stayed standing on his porch until the red taillights of his son’s car could no longer be seen. “Good luck, Son,” He whispered softly into the night air, “I hope you get everything you are wanting.”


	7. Chapter 7

It was dark by the time Chuck arrived back at his apartment, and the low lights glowing in the courtyard gave the area an ethereal, contemplative feeling. Instead of going to his front door, he pulled a chair over from his sister’s patio set over to the fountain and sat, feet propped up on the fountain ledge, staring at the water flowing down the multiple tiers of the water feature. Reaching into his pocket, he retrieved the slip of paper his father had handed him. He already had the phone number memorized but needed something to do with his fingers as he turned the folded piece of paper over and over in his hands, as he thought over everything his father told him. He wasn’t sure if knowing the reason behind the departures made his parents’ disappearances better or worse or if he was going to tell Ellie about meeting with their father after being so long apart.

‘ _One issue at a time_ ,’ He thought to himself, ‘ _Helping Sarah, and Molly, is the more pressing issue now. The real question is, should I tell her first or try to reach Bryce first to see if the contact info that dad gave me is still good…’_

“You look deep in thought,” He heard a voice from behind him, accompanied by the sound of a metal chair lightly dragging along the flagstone of the courtyard. Looking to his right, he saw his sister, still in her scrubs from her shift, pulling up the other chair beside him and adopting the same pose as himself, leaned back in the chair, feet on the edge of the fountain, looking up at the water bubbling out of the top, pooling, then trickling down from one reservoir to the next. “What’s on your mind, little brother?”

“Have you ever had a time where helping someone you care about winds up dragging up something from your past you’d rather not revisit?” Chuck cast a look over to his sister.

“Outside of the times I took it upon myself to take care of you because Mom and Dad were not available?” She countered, “Not really, but I struggle sometimes when I have to treat a kid whose parents don’t seem to care or want to be involved in their child’s treatment. What’s going on?”

“So, you know that I have been working on helping Sarah find her ex, and that it led to the CIA?” Chuck started, Ellie simply nodded for him to continue, “Well I found him, or at least his most recent contact number.”

“Okay, I follow you so far,” Ellie nodded, “Are you worried about reaching out? That he’ll figure out how you got his contact information?”

“No, well yes,” Chuck sighed, “But no, not for the reason you are thinking. It turns out I know her ex, and he knows about my hacking ability, has even protected the Piranha on a few occasions.”

“Oh God, please tell me it’s not…” Ellie started.

“Her ex is Bryce Larkin,” He gave his sister a pained look, “Apparently, he is not an accountant, but a spy with one of our country’s top covert agencies. I don’t know why he gave her a fake name aside from guessing he was undercover at the time as his apartment on the Upper West Side was being paid for by a shadow company that is a front for the CIA.”

“Does Sarah know?” Ellie inquired.

“That one of the people who made my last year at Stanford a living Hell is the same man who fathered her child?” Chuck raised an eyebrow, “No, I only just found out, I don’t know how I’m going to tell her… about everything. My history with him, the CIA, everything.”

“In my experience, being completely transparent is best,” Ellie advised, “Take her through the steps, how you traced the information she gave you and where it led. If she doesn’t know you were, or are, a hacker, you might want to let her know. Tell her that you found his contact information and that you knew him in college. Do you know that the contact info you found is still good?”

“It’s as reliable as you can get in such a situation,” Chuck gave a small shrug, “But I haven’t tried calling it yet, if that’s what you’re getting at. This is Sarah’s thing, I’m just the source of information right now, I think it’s best if she makes the first attempt at contact.”

“Probably a good idea,” Ellie nodded, patting her brother’s knee as she stood, “Well, I say just be as honest as you can be and see what she wants to do. I’m going to head inside, I’ve had a long day and I’m exhausted, and that was before your little crisis. Put that chair back when you’re done, if it’s still here come morning, I have a key and know where you sleep.”

“Message received, Sis,” Chuck snickered, “Thank you for being my sounding board.”

“Any time,” Ellie gave him a small smile, “I love you.”

“Love you too, Elle,” Chuck returned her smile and watched as she picked up her chair and carried it back to its place beside the small table in the alcove by her front door. “Good night.”

“Good night, Chuck,” Ellie gave him one last supportive smile before heading into her own apartment.

~~~~~~~~~

Chuck had awoken the next day, still not completely sure how he was going to explain everything to Sarah, but secure in the advice that Ellie had given him the night before. When he called Sarah to inform her that he had found the information they had been looking for, she invited him to join her for lunch as none of her students had scheduled mentoring during her lunch and prep period. Getting the time off wasn’t difficult for him, as there were no meetings at the office and the game was currently in post-production, leaving it firmly in the marketing, accounting, and distribution departments hands. Confirming the time, he offered to pick up lunch from Lou’s, which was on the way to the school. Sarah gladly accepted and told him that she was looking forward to seeing him that afternoon.

The morning had been slow for Chuck, mostly reviewing reports from the various departments within the company and giving some direction to those who needed it. He also spent some time drafting up new ideas for software and games as well as reviewed previous ideas to try to figure out which to pursue next, not wanting to rest on the laurels of his company’s past achievements. He set up a meeting with the department heads to toss around ideas for future projects and narrowed his list of suggestions down to a first-person shooter, an educational game, and an updated form of their security software.

By the time lunch rolled around, he was more or less done with the tasks he had laid out for himself for the day, which meant he had the option of not returning to the office that afternoon, if Sarah needed him a little longer than just for lunch. When his watch’s alarm alerted him to the fact it was time to go, he grabbed his keys, wallet, and phone, sliding the latter two into their designated pockets in his pants, and headed out the door. A brief stop at Morgan’s desk ensured the whole office would know shortly that Chuck would be out of the office, potentially for the remainder of the day.

The drive to Lou’s was relatively short, and she had his order waiting for him on the back counter for pick up when he walked in. She handed him the bags and drink carrier along with an envelope addressed to Sarah, informing him that she wanted to invite Sarah to her baby shower to get to know her better. He nodded his understanding and gave Lou a friendly kiss on the cheek before heading out once more and toward the high school.

The check-in process didn’t take too long when he arrived at the front office. The secretary, a woman in her mid-40’s, made quick work of checking his ID and having him sign in before handing him a visitors pass and directions toward the performance arts building which housed classrooms for the band and choir as well as the school’s off-off Broadway sized theatre. As Chuck made his way down the outdoor corridor toward the building, he noticed a few students give him a double take, almost as if the recognized him. Figuring they were probably gamers who had read an article about Orion Games, he shrugged off their reactions and continued on to Sarah’s classroom.

Arriving at the door, he could hear the second period band students rehearsing, Mrs. Tucker on a small square platform, arms and baton waiving gracefully through the air as she led her students in the piece they were playing. He saw Sarah standing behind and off to the side of the band’s director, organizing some paperwork on a nearby table. When Chuck saw Mrs. Tucker bring the band to a stop, he quietly tapped on the window of the door, catching Sarah’s attention and giving her a small waive.

Sarah gave him a smile and walked over to the door, the eyes of a few of the students following her as she let the tall, curly haired, man into the room. Mrs. Tucker likewise noticed her distracted pupils and turned to see what had caught their attention, “Charles Bartowski, you better have a really good note from your sister for being nearly a decade late for class.” She demanded, hands on her hips, a stern look broken by the grin on her face.

“I am so sorry, Mrs. Tucker,” Chuck grinned back at the older woman, “I seemed to have misplaced my flute. I still can’t find it, erm, Peaches must have eaten it.”

“Don’t you lie to be, Mr. Bartowski,” She crossed her arms, “You know I know that fool dog ain’t around anymore.”

“Oh, right,” Chuck feigned embarrassment, “Um, I mean aliens, that’s right, aliens must have abducted it… and Morgan right along with it. I mean it was weird, there was this glowy light then _zoom_ they were both gone and on top of it, I woke up 10 years later, and in a whole different part of the valley! Can you believe that?”

Sarah was standing beside her boyfriend trying not to laugh at his antics as Mrs. Tucker rolled her eyes, “That has got to be one of the worst excuses I’ve ever heard, but as I can no longer issue you detention, I will allow it.” She then turned to her students, who she had heard whispering behind her back, “Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to Charles Bartowski. He was one of my students, and one of the best first chair flutes I’ve ever seen come up in my bands.”

“Miss Walker?” A young girl raised her hand from the French horn section, catching the younger teacher’s attention, “Isn’t he the guy you played with at the beach last month?”

Sarah gave the student a confused look, “I’m not sure I understand the question, Bridget.”

“You know, the video,” The girl tried to explain, seeing the still puzzled look on her assistant director’s face as well as the man who’d just come into the room, “On YouTube…”

“Do you have any idea what she’s talking about?” Chuck whispered, having sidled up to Sarah.

“Not a clue,” She whispered back.

A flute player who happened to be sitting nearby them rolled his eyes and pulled his smart phone out of the side pocket of his book bag, quickly pulling up the video and handing the device to them. At first the video was a little shaky as whomever had taped it had tried to make their way through the crowd while a guitar and violin duet could be heard. “I mean that is you, isn’t it, Miss Walker?” The student asks pointing to the blonde violinist who was standing on a park bench in beach wear.

Sarah and Chuck nodded mutely as they watched the video, Sarah swaying along with the melody she played on her violin as Chuck played his guitar and sang through ‘Hallelujah.’ After watching the clip a moment longer, Chuck stopped the video and handed the phone back to the young man to whom it belonged.

“I didn’t realize anyone had filmed that,” Chuck murmured in Sarah’s ear.

“Mr. Bartowski,” Mrs. Tucker lifted her eyebrow, “Just as when you were a student of mine, there are no secrets here.

“I was just saying I didn’t realize that anyone had taped us,” Chuck shrugged.

“How could you with your face fused to Miss Walkers?” A student from the brass section chuckled.

“Mr. Epps, you just got yourself polishing duty,” Mrs. Tucker turned to the young man in the back row.

“Perhaps we should take this into the office,” Sarah suggested.

“Probably a good idea,” Chuck agreed before turning back toward Mrs. Tucker, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cause such a disruption. Miss Walker and I just had a few things to discuss over lunch and I was a tad bit early.”

“Well seeing as we only have a few minutes left of class, it wasn’t a bad time to interrupt,” Mrs. Tucker shrugged, “So long as one of those sandwiches in that bag are for me.”

“Of course,” Chuck nodded, a wry grin on his face, “Last thing I need is the wrath of Big Mike coming down on me for not making sure you got a good sandwich, especially since I brought one for your lovely assistant director.”

Gladys Tucker just rolled her eyes, “Miss Walker knows where my desk is, just leave it there and get about your business.”

A young woman holding a clarinet hesitantly raised her hand from the center of the first row, when the director gave her a nod she spoke, “Well seeing as we only have a few minutes left of class, would it be too much to ask for a small performance?”

Chuck and Sarah shared a look before Chuck spoke, “I don’t carry my guitar with me everywhere.”

“There’s one in the back,” Sarah suggested, “Assuming Mrs. Tucker doesn’t mind.”

“You might as well,” The older woman rolled her eyes with a defeated shrug, “There ain’t nothing else I can accomplish today with the time we have left.”

Sarah gave a small nod and quickly ducked into one of the practice rooms, returning with her violin in one hand and an acoustic guitar in the other. She handed the latter to Chuck, who quickly threw the strap over his shoulder and checked the tuning of the instrument. Once he gave Sarah a nod indicating he was satisfied, Sarah turned to him and whispered, “Follow my lead.”

Mrs. Tucker stepped down from the director’s stand and indicated for the pair to stand front and center. Sarah and Chuck stepped forward into place as Sarah raised her violin to her chin as she began to play Libertango as she had nearly a decade before. Chuck smiled at the memory and joined her, improvising the guitar part as he had their first time playing together, much to the fascination of the students. As they played, some students sat transfixed at how they worked with and off each other playing with the harmony and melody as they went, while others listened casually as they quietly packed up their instruments and sheet music.

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect as the bell began to ring as the last notes of the piece rang out through the room. The students clapped for the performance and quickly left the room to get to their next classes or lunch breaks. Chuck lifted the strap over his head and handed the guitar back to Sarah who quickly put the instruments away in the practice room.

“That was some very fine playing, Charles,” Gladys complimented him with a warm smile, “You compliment Sarah well… in more ways than one I suspect.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Tucker,” Chuck blushed.

“Please call me Gladys,” The older woman corrected, “The students are gone now and you’re an adult now, I think it’s okay for you to use my first name.”

“Alright,” Chuck nodded, “Then could you please call me Chuck? Charles is so formal and that is not me at all.”

“Okay, Chuck,” Gladys smiled before walking over to the table where the bag of sandwiches had been set before the impromptu performance and pulling out the wrapper with her name on it, “You’re a good boy, my Michael has always said you are. You be good to our girl here.”

“I will, I promise,” Chuck nodded, before turning to the hall where he saw Sarah standing, a small smile on her face, “I would never dream of not being anything but good to her.”

Gladys nodded her approval, momentarily placed a gentle hand of support on Sarah’s arm, and walked past the younger woman and into her office, closing the door behind her to give the younger adults their time together.

“So, where do you want to do this?” Chuck asked.

Sarah arched an amused eyebrow at him for a moment, causing him to blush at the unintentional innuendo, before a smile spread across her face. “We can use one of the practice spaces, one of them has a large table we can eat at as we talk.”

“Sounds good,” Chuck nodded, grabbing their lunch and their drinks and following after her.

The room Sarah led him to contained a few music stands of varying quality and a stack of chairs along one of the side walls and a 6 ft by 4 ft table along the far wall. While Sarah put the loose sheet music that had been scattered across the table into the correct folders then stacked them on a corner of the table, Chuck set their food and drinks down and collected two chairs from the stack and carried them over to the newly cleared table.

Once they’d settled in their seats, he quickly doled out their food. He sat a half of a turkey and muenster sandwich they’d tried on their first date and a small side salad in front of her along with a bottle of water, her favorite meal from Lou’s. When he pulled out his sandwich, he noticed she arched an eyebrow at the pastrami and sauerkraut sandwich he’d ordered for himself. “Don’t worry, I brought breath mints, just in case” He assured her, “I know better than to kiss you after eating this beast, I was just craving a good pastrami seedless rye.”

Sarah simply nodded, opening her salad and the packet of raspberry vinaigrette that came with it, drizzling it over the vegetables and taking a bite. “So, what did you find out?”

Chuck paused, chewing his bite of sandwich a moment longer and taking a swig of his water. “Getting right into it, huh?” He sighed, “I thought we’d eat first then talk about it.”

“I only have 45 minutes for lunch, Sweetie,” Sarah reminded him spearing another bite of her salad, “Might as well multi-task.”

“Okay,” Chuck nodded, “Well, as you know, I have been looking for Bruce for the past few weeks.” When Sarah nodded her acknowledgement, he continued, “I found out very quickly that Bruce Anderson is not a real person, that name is an alias. After quite a bit of tracking, I found out that the alias was actually a cover for a man by the name of Bryce Larkin.”

Sarah furrowed her brow at the look on Chuck’s face, “I take it there’s more to him than just using a false identity while he was in New York.”

“Yep,” Chuck sighed, “Bruce Anderson is more than just an alias, it’s his cover. Sarah, Bryce works for the CIA as a field operative, he’s a spy. Furthermore, I don’t think he was running away from you after you told him about Molly, or at least it may not have been the only reason he disappeared. Around the time Molly was conceived, Bryce was reassigned to an operation that took him overseas, although it wouldn’t surprise me if he saw being able to escape his responsibilities as a benefit of his new assignment.”

“You seem pretty confident in that,” Sarah searched his face, chewing slowly as she processed his words.

“I am,” Chuck admitted, “I know, or at least knew, Bryce pretty well. Remember the guy I told you about, the roommate and best friend who slept with the woman I was going to propose to?”

Sarah gasped, “No…”

“Yeah, Bryce freaking Larkin,” Chuck huffed, “He has a way of involving himself in my life and gumming up the works. Not that I’m complaining about this particular intrusion, I mean it led to you coming back into my life, not to mention the creation of one of the most adorable little girls I know. Although, I do have to admit I’m a little biased, having feelings for her mother and all.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty great,” Sarah nodded, a smile on her face, “I hear her mother ain’t half bad, either.”

“Are you kidding? Her mother is one of the most fascinating and wonderful women I’ve ever met,” Chuck beamed down at her, “I would venture to say that I may just be falling for her in a permanent kind of way.”

“I hope so,” Sarah giggled, “Because I hear she has no intention of ever letting you go. I know for a fact she fell for you long ago, and never truly recovered. Some would even say she loves you.”

“That’s good to hear, because I love you too,” Chuck admitted. The pair reveled in the moment a bit longer before Chuck got back to the reason for this visit. “In any event, I was able to track down Bryce’s contact information. I have to admit, I had some help, I was caught by another hacker accessing the CIA servers and he offered to help me. Turns out this hacker is a former, or perhaps a distanced disgruntled, employee. He said that he is confident that the number is still good.”

Chuck dug in his pocket and pulled out the slip of paper from his pocket and handed it to her. “Ball’s in your court now,” He spoke softly as she stared at the piece of paper in her hands, “I can’t and won’t tell you what to do. You can call him, or not, you did say that his name isn’t listed on Molly’s birth certificate. Technically, you don’t need his permission for anything from a legal standpoint; at least not according to my frat brother who is currently practicing family law.”

Sarah nodded her understanding before folding the paper and putting it in the pocket of her slacks. She placed her hands over his and looked up into his warm eyes, “Thank you,” She spoke softly, “For everything you did and do for me. I can’t express how much it means to me that you would risk yourself like you did to help me find him.”

“It was nothing,” Chuck blushed humbly, “I would do anything for my girls.” His eyes then sparkled in mischief, “Besides, there’s no power in the ‘verse who can stop the Piranha.”

“You are such a nerd!” Sarah rolled her eyes and laughed at him.

“I’m your nerd,” He smiled at her.

“That you are,” She grinned up at him, “You might want to grab one of your mints.”

“Why?” Chuck did his eyebrow dance.

“’Cause I’m gonna kiss you,” She smirked.

Chuck quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out a tin of altoids, popping one in his mouth and crunching down on it, all without breaking eye contact with his girlfriend who, as soon as he’d swallowed, grabbed his face and pressed a kiss to his lips. As she pulled back, she nipped at his lips, causing him to growl low in his throat and reach out to her, moving her from her own chair to straddle his lap as he deepened the kiss. They were quickly losing themselves in each other when a rap on the door caught their attention. Foreheads pressed together, they turned to see who had knocked to see Gladys giving them a knowing look and an eye roll before she sauntered off to her office with a chuckle.

“Perhaps we should save this for home,” Chuck murmured.

“Your home or mine?” Sarah giggled, “’Cause I gotta tell you, mine is a little crowded with my mom and Molly there as an instant audience. I really need to get my own place.”

“Whatever happened to the condo in Echo Park?” Chuck asked as Sarah slowly removed herself from his lap and resumed her own seat.

“I was outbid,” Sarah shrugged, “Now I’m back to square one, and with the season opening being this weekend, and the final rehearsals, I have no spare time in which to look.”

“Have I told you how much I am looking forward to seeing you perform,” Chuck gave her a supportive smile, “I haven’t been able to watch you perform live since high school.”

“Well, I hope I have improved a little since then,” She joked.

“Oh, I’m sure you have,” Chuck stated confidently then checked his watch, “Well I’d better get going, our time is almost up.”

Chuck stood and began collecting their now empty water bottles, wrappers, and containers tossing them in the bag in which they’d come. Sarah watched him for a moment, chewing on her lower lip contemplatively, “Chuck?”

Her voice was so soft, he almost didn’t hear it over the sound of the paper bag crinkling as he loaded it up with their trash. When she placed her hand, softly, on his wrist he turned and saw the serious look on her face. She nodded toward his chair, indicating that she wanted him to sit.

“What is it, Baby?” He asked, concern lacing his voice at the serious look on her face.

“Do you mind waiting a minute?” She gave him a hopeful look, “I don’t want to do this alone.” She quickly rose, exited the room and entered her office to retrieve her cell phone. A moment later, she returned and took her seat across from Chuck. Pulling the paper out of her pocket, she quickly dialed the nine digits and hit the send button. Setting the note on the table beside her, she reached out with her free hand to hold Chuck’s seeking out his support and strength.

The phone rang a few times then went to voicemail. She listened to the message for a moment, caught between frustration and relief that she didn’t have to actually speak to him, before the beep signaled for her to leave her message. “Um, hi, this is, erm Sarah Walker. We knew each other a few years ago… back in New York. I um, I don’t know if you remember or not, but I got pregnant shortly before you left, we have a little girl, her name is Molly. I’m not looking for child support or anything, we’re good with that, but since you have made no attempt to contact us, I’m assuming you are unable to be her father, which is fine. I um, actually met someone, it’s getting serious, and someday he may want to adopt her. Your name isn’t on the birth certificate or anything, but I still thought you might want to know, maybe consider officially signing over your parental rights to reduce any hiccups. You don’t have to come see her or anything, I just need your address to send you the paperwork. Give me a call back, my number is (818)555-3964. Um, for what it’s worth, I don’t regret our time together, because it gave me the greatest gift I could ever ask for. So, I guess, thank you, bye.”

She hung up with a sigh, letting out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. She felt Chuck gently squeeze her hand, causing her to look up and see the support, love, and compassion brimming in his eyes. “So, I guess that’s it then, balls’ in his court now,” Sarah spoke softly.

Chuck nodded and stood slowly to his full height, a slight tug on Sarah’s hand had her joining him. He wrapped her up in his long arms, causing her to nuzzle into his chest as he pressed kisses to her head and temple as she relaxed into his embrace. “I am so proud of you,” He whispered, “That was a really brave thing to do, especially since you didn’t have to.”

“Yes, I did,” She nodded, “You laid yourself on the line to get that number for me, the least I could do was use it. Thank your hacker friend for me.”

“I will,” He promised, making a mental note to do just that the next time his father contacted him. Any further conversation was interrupted by the bell, signaling the change of periods, ringing out. “I guess that’s my cue to leave. If I don’t see you sooner, I will see you Saturday.”

“Your tickets will be at will-call,” Sarah nodded, “I left enough for you, Ellie, Awesome, as well as my mom and Molly at the desk.”

“Okay,” Chuck nodded, “I love you.” He pressed a soft kiss to her lips.

As the pulled back, she whispered against his lips, “I love you too.” She watched as Chuck gathered their trash and give her one last smile before heading out of the practice room. She saw him duck into the office he shared with Gladys to say goodbye before heading back to the classroom and into the hallway as she quickly put the chairs back on the stack before straightening her clothes and using her phone as a mirror to check her makeup before heading out to the classroom to start the daily warmups.


	8. Chapter 8

Chuck had just finished knotting the tie around his neck and straightening his tux jacket when he heard a knock on his door. He checked himself once more in the mirror and was pleased with what he saw. He’d just gotten a haircut, much to the relief of his older sister, that left the sides shorter, but with enough length on top to allow it to still curl. His suit was tailored to fit his trim frame, and his dress shoes had been polished to a mirrored shine. Satisfied with his appearance, he descended the stairs to answer the door.

“Hey, Sis, just about ready to go,” Chuck greeted her, not really pausing to look at her as he turned back to his kitchen where a bouquet of gardenias lay on the table. The bright white of the blossoms bright against the dark green foliage surrounding them. Stopping at his entry way table, he slid his wallet into his back pocket, cellphone into the breast pocket of his jacket, and grabbed his keys. Turning he saw his sister dressed in a burgundy formal gown with a cap sleeve, sweetheart neckline, and column skirt; Devon stood behind her in a well-fitting tux, Clara perched on his hip in a light purple party dress and black, patent leather, mary-janes. “You all look great, especially you, Clara, you are quite lovely this evening.”

“Thank you, Uncle Chuck,” The girl smiled from her position on her father’s hip.

“You’re looking rather dapper yourself,” Ellie piped in, stepping up to him and adjusting his tie to lay straight, “Sarah is going to be very impressed.”

“Thanks,” Chuck blushed at her comment before clearing his throat, “Alright let’s go!”

It didn’t take long for the small family to load up in their cars, the only delay was to move Clara’s booster seat from her parents’ car to her uncle’s as she insisted on riding in Chuck’s ‘Spy Car.’ “Hey munchkin,” Chuck handed her the flowers once he slid into the car, “Can you hold these for me?”

“Yeah!” Clara grinned, accepting the flowers and looking at them, “They’re pretty, who are the flowers for?”

“Do you remember Miss Sarah from the beach?” Chuck met her eyes in the rearview as he pulled out onto the street heading toward the concert hall.

“Uh-huh,” Clara nodded enthusiastically, “She’s Molly’s mommy. I play with Molly at daycare all the time! She’s really pretty.”

“Yes, she is. She is also a very talented musician,” Chuck grinned at his niece through the rearview mirror, “It’s her concert that we are going to. She is what they call a featured soloist, which means that she is going to stand at the front of the stage and play a special part of the music while the rest of the orchestra backs her up. It can be very scary to do that, so we are going to go and listen to her play so that she can have some friendly faces in the audience.”

“Cool,” Clara nodded, “So why are we bringing her flowers?”

“It’s a nice thing to do when you go to see someone perform,” Chuck informed her as he merged onto the I-5, checking his mirrors to make sure his sister and brother-in-law’s van was close behind him. “It makes them feel appreciated for all the hard work they put into what they are doing. A lot of times they get roses, but I know gardenias are Miss Sarah’s favorite flower so I’m giving her those instead.”

“Okay,” Clara gave him a thoughtful look, “Does that mean that I’ll get flowers when I have my ballet recital next month?”

“Of course!” Chuck stated emphatically, “Do you have a favorite flower?”

“I like the pretty poufy ones at the grocery store,” She gave him her little girl version of the Bartowski smile.

“Carnations it is, a big bouquet of them!” He chuckled at her excitement. The rest of the ride was spent talking about everything that came into Clara’s head from her new dress, to her kindergarten teacher and her friends at school and ballet, how excited she was for her recital, even the trip to Disneyland that her parents didn’t know she knew about. Chuck loved times like this when he got to share in the little girl’s enthusiasm. As he listened to her talk, he found himself wondering if Molly would be like this when she was older, which led to wondering what his children would look like if he and Sarah decided to take that step, and the ones that traditionally precede it. They had only been dating for a little over a month and he wondered if it was too soon to want to take that step.

His thoughts and the conversation began to wane as they pulled into the parking garage. He pulled his ticket and waited for the gate to open before guiding his car into the underground parking, driving slowly so as to not endanger other concert goers who were walking through the parking structure, but to allow his brother-in-law to keep up with him so that they could try to find parking spaces near each other. Thankfully, there were two spaces next to each other on the second sublevel, and the two men swung their respective vehicles in and turned off their ignitions. Chuck helped Clara out of her booster seat and kept an eye on her as she stood by the rear wheel of the car, as she had been taught to do, until he freed the contraption from the rear seat and handed it to Devon who was waiting, with the sliding door of the van open, to install the seat once more for their return trip as the adults knew Chuck was planning to take Sarah out for a late dinner after the concert.

Taking Clara’s small hand in his own, Chuck started walking, Ellie and Devon close behind, toward the elevators that would bring them up to the main level where the will-call desk resided. When they entered the main foyer, the look of amazement on Clara’s face as she took in the grandiose wooden beams that soared over her head, a stark contrast to the gleaming stainless-steel outer façade, brought a smile to her uncle’s lips.

“Wow!” Clara sighed, much to the amusement of her adults.

“You said it, Clair Bear,” Chuck smiled down at her as they made their way to join the line of people waiting to pick up their tickets. Thankfully they had several people working the desk, and each line was clearly marked with the initials for each assistance clerk, so no one had to wait for long. A glad relief for those attending the concert with a young girl of five. When it was finally their turn, Chuck approached the desk. “Bartowski, we should have four tickets on hold.”

The guest assistance clerk, a pretty brunette with curly hair and hazel eyes behind thin framed, pale purple glasses, gave him and the little girl whose hand he still held, a warm smile as she thumbed through the file before her. Pulling an envelope from the accordion file and verifying it against her check list, she handed the envelope to him. “Here you go, Mr. Bartowski. I hope your family enjoys the concert. Seating will begin in about 45 minutes. We invite you to explore the space. There is a small pre-concert performance in B.P. Hall featuring our first chair Bassoon, Carina Miller, and our Oboist, Zondra Rizzo. They are playing a medley from Pirates of the Caribbean.”

“We may stop and give it a listen then,” Chuck smiled at the woman, “Thank you for the suggestion.

“You’re welcome, Mr. Bartowski,” The woman smiled back, “And may I say your daughter is beautiful.”

Clara laughed at the woman’s statement, “He’s not my daddy, he’s my Uncle Chuck. My Mommy and Daddy are over there.” She pointed toward the couple who were standing patiently by a nearby pillar waiting for their brother and daughter to return.

The woman blushed prettily, “I’m sorry, my mistake.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Chuck assured the young woman, “She looks like her mother, who is incidentally my sister, so it’s an understandable assumption.”

“Oh,” The woman nodded, “Alright then, I hope you enjoy your visit.”

“We will,” Chuck nodded, “Thanks again.”

Taking Clara’s hand in his once more, he guided the little girl back to where her parents were standing. Since they had a little while before seating was to begin, they decided to stop at B.P. Hall to see if they couldn’t catch a bit of the performance before venturing to the third level and it’s outdoor space so that Clara could run around and get her wiggles out before heading into the main concert hall to enjoy the concert.

Clara really enjoyed watching the women perform in the small concert space along with their piano accompaniment. She had been allowed to watch Pirates of the Caribbean for the first time just a month before with her uncle serving as sensor, covering her eyes during the parts he deemed might be a little too scary for her. She never told him that she peeked through his fingers during the fighting scenes and they didn’t give her any nightmares at all. She actually though the monkey was cute and had dreamed of Monkey Jack that night. So, when she heard the women playing pieces from the movie, she got really excited, chattering non-stop to her uncle and parents. This drew amused looks from other concert goers at the little girl’s enthusiasm.

About ten minutes before the doors opened, or about thirty to curtain, the small family made their way up to the third level to wander around the green space. Clara fell in love with the giant rose fountain that sat in the middle of the garden. She first ran then slowly walked around the water feature, watching as the water poured from tier to tier, much like the fountain that sat between her parents’ and her uncle’s condos. The broken pottery that had be inlaid into the cement making up the design of the feature was pretty, and she liked running her hand over its uneven surface. Before she knew it, her mom called her back, saying that it was time to find their seats.

Chuck checked the tickets and found that they were going to be in the stage left balcony, just forward of the stage. Finding their entrance, he showed the tickets to the usher who scanned them and pushed back the curtain to allow them access to their section. Their seats were in the first row, Chuck went in first, followed by Clara, Ellie, and Awesome. He counted the seats and found that he was to be seated next to an older woman with greying dirty blonde hair. He didn’t recognize the woman until the toddler in her lap squealed, getting his, and her attention.

“Well, fancy meeting you here,” The woman smiled when she recognized the man sitting beside her, “How are you doing, Chuck?”

“I’m doing well, Emma,” Chuck smiled back at her.

“We brought Miss Sarah flowers,” Clara beamed proudly, holding up the bouquet that Chuck had, once again, set in her lap at her request.

“Those are lovely, Clara, I’m sure she will love them,” Emma assured the little girl before turning her attention to the adults sitting just beyond the little girl, “Ellie, Devon, good to see you too. You all look so nice tonight.”

“Thank you, Emma,” Ellie gave her a soft smile, “It’s nice being able to get out of my scrubs for a night.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty awesome,” Devon agreed, making the other adults snicker at his favorite word.

“I know the feeling,” Emma nodded, “One of the littles in my ward is undergoing kidney dialysis and dispite him not feeling well, the little guy loves to dance. One of the volunteers always plays him music on her phone, as he has come to expect it from her visits.”

“Oh no, I think I know where this is going,” Ellie groaned, “Who got hit?”

“She did,” Emma smirked, “Neon green puke down her pants, but she took it like a champ. Put him back in his little monkey cage, hit the call button, and set to work cleaning him up with some wet wipes. She had him mostly cleaned up by the time I got there to get him changed. Thankfully we had some scrubs we loan to the teens to sleep in, so once the little guy was cleaned up, we hunted them down so that she could change and finish her shift.”

“Poor little guy,” Ellie cooed.

“Yeah, he’s one of our frequent residents,” Emma shook her head sadly, “Thankfully, that particular volunteer comes in a couple times a week; with the amount of care he needs and the fact his family lives so far away, her visits are the highlight of his week. He always asks for his ‘Mimi’ and gets so happy when she comes, it doesn’t matter if she walks around the ward with him, plays with him, or sits back on the recliner and snuggles him as they watch ‘Cars.’ Only thing he doesn’t like, although his physical and occupational therapists love her for it, is she refuses to carry him around and makes him walk. His mom spoils him and carries him around everywhere, so he doesn’t like to walk.”

“I think I’ve seen them a time or two when I was checking on a couple of my pediatric cardiac patients,” Devon chipped in, “Young woman a little younger than Chuck, wavy brown hair?”

“That’s her,” Emma nodded, “I don’t know how much longer she’ll be with us. Mina, that’s her name, just went back to school last month, so she may not be able to keep up with her schoolwork, job, and volunteering. She’s a newlywed, too. Wouldn’t be too surprised if we saw her again in a professional capacity in a few years. She mentioned that she is still trying to decide between ASL Interpreting or Nursing with an emphasis on Pediatric medicine.”

“I’d like to meet her someday,” Ellie gave Emma a smile, “Let me know next time she’s around and I’ll see if I can’t make my way to your side of the building.”

“I’ll do that,” Emma promised, bouncing Molly in her lap. The little girl had begun to squirm, and it was quickly becoming distracting.

The orchestra took the stage, quickly finding their seats and settling in as the lights of the hall began to dim. When the Maestro took the stage, the audience began to applaud. The Maestro was trim, and of average height, with a thick head of dark hair, and looked to be of at least partial Latin decsent. He bowed to the audience before picking up the microphone that rested on a stand near the director’s box and welcomed everyone in attendance. He gave a brief overview of what pieces had been selected and wished for the ticket holders to enjoy the concert. To the surprise of all the adults, both Clara, who was still between her mother and uncle, and Molly, who had eventually migrated into Chuck’s lap and was snuggled up against his chest, were well behaved.

In between pieces, Clara would sometimes ask a question about one of the instruments or tell her adults what she liked or didn’t about the piece that had just ended. Other times, she would turn and play with Molly, keeping the younger girl entertained. After about a half an hour, the Maestro turned back to the audience, microphone in hand and announced that they would have a featured soloist joining them on stage. He informed the audience that the soloist was the newest addition to the orchestra, had graduated top of her class from Columbia, and had left the New York Philharmonic where she had been the youngest member ever admitted to the elite orchestra, to return home to California.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming the beautiful, the talented, the incomparable, Sarah Walker,” The Maestro led the applause as the stage right doors swung open, revealing a woman with blonde hair twisted back into a low chignon that rested just below her right ear, she wore a royal blue sleeveless gown with a lace illusion neckline that had silver accents weaved into the lace, a fitted bodice, and a long, flowing chiffon skirt that had a sweep train in the back. In her left hand, she held the neck of her instrument and had the end of her bow hooked onto the forefinger of the same hand. She used her right to waive to the audience.

Molly immediately noticed when her mother took the stage, sitting up and scooting forward on Chuck’s lap until she was holding onto the balcony rail, calling, “Mommy! Mommy!”

Although she couldn’t hear her little girl, she saw movement in the balcony where she knew her family and her boyfriend’s family sat. Despite the dim lighting of the hall, she could make out that Molly was seated in Chuck’s lap, both with twin loving smiles on their faces. She couldn’t help but grin and blow them a kiss. The action was returned by both of her targets before she nodded to the Maestro that she was ready. Once the man retook his perch and raised his hands, she lifted her instrument and began her solo.

Chuck had never heard anything so beautiful in his life. He knew how talented she was, but this performance blew him away, he couldn’t have been prouder of her if he’d tried. The piece lasted 8 minutes, and when the last note echoed throughout the hall, the room exploded in applause and cheers, as the majority of the room rose in an ovation. Chuck could just faintly make out the slight flush that rose to Sarah’s cheeks as she curtsied, turned back toward where he stood, a clapping Molly perched on his hip, the lines of his tux be damned, and blew him one more kiss, which he returned. She curtsied once more and exited the stage. Once the applause had calmed down, the Maestro thanked the patrons for coming for their season opening concert, bowed, then gestured for the orchestra to stand and bow as one before they began to file off the stage to the applause of the audience.

Clara had started getting sleepy but insisted that she say goodbye to Sarah before she left so the Bartowski/Woodcomb/Walker family wound their way through the crowd to the main level and backstage. As a featured soloist, Sarah had her own dressing room, it didn’t take long to be pointed in the right direction. After a little begging, the adults allowed Molly to knock on the large green door. A moment later, the door swung open, revealing Sarah, still dressed in her gown, wisps of hair escaping her updo. The way she looked was definitely in Chuck’s top 10 most beautiful Sarah moments.

“Hey!” She grinned, stepping aside and opening the door wider, “Come on in, it’s a little small in here, but I think some of you can fit on the couch.”

The group filed in, Chuck, who still held Molly, handed the little girl over to her mother, “Mama!” The girl cried out, wrapping her little arms around Sarah’s neck, “Mama play pretty.”

“Thank you, Baby,” Sarah nuzzled her neck.

“We brought you flowers, Miss Sarah,” Clara spoke up, holding the large bouquet that was easily as big as her head aloft in offering to the older woman.

“Thank you, Clara; they’re beautiful,” Sarah grinned, accepting the bouquet, giving it a small sniff and setting it on her dressing table until it was time to head home. Molly had already nuzzled into her neck and was quickly drifting off.

“Here let me take her,” Emma offered, taking the small girl into her arms with only a mile protestation from the toddler.

“We should probably get going,” Ellie added, “It’s getting late for Clara and she has swimming lessons tomorrow. We really enjoyed the concert, you were amazing!”

“Thank you,” Sarah blushed lightly at the praise from her boyfriend’s sister and ersatz mother. “I’m glad you enjoyed yourselves,” She then crouched down and brushed Clara’s bangs out of her eyes, giving the little girl a brief hug, “Now, it’s time for all good little girls to go home and go to sleep. I’m super glad you came tonight.”

“Okay,” Clara nodded, rubbing her eyes, “I’m super glad I came too, you play really good.”

“Thank you, Sweetheart,” Sarah pressed a kiss to the little girl’s forehead before nudging her back toward her parents and standing to her full height. “I think it’s time for Little Miss to get some sleep too.” She nodded to her daughter who now was sleeping on her grandmother’s shoulder.

Emma agreed and after a quick round of goodbyes, the Woodcombs and Emma left with their young charges. Once the door was closed, Chuck and Sarah flew into each other’s arms as if they were drawn together magnetically, arms embracing, lips crashing together. It didn’t take long for Chuck’s hand to drift up into his girlfriend’s hair, displacing even more of her locks for the carefully crafted knot at the back of her head.

“You know, Clara was right,” Chuck finally spoke a little later as they sat, cuddled up on the small sofa of the dressing room, still dressed in their formal attire, the only concessions to comfort being Chuck’s tux jacket now laying over the top of the makeup chair and his tie now laying loose around his neck. “You were amazing tonight. I knew you were good, but tonight was… something else!”

“Thank you,” Sarah dropped her head, hoping to hide the flush she felt grace her cheeks. Chuck wouldn’t allow this for long before lifting her chin until her face was turned up to him enough to press a soft kiss to her lips. Their kissing was interrupted a few moments later by a knock on the door. The couple leaned back, sharing a look of confusion, “Who on Earth could that be?”

“Don’t ask me,” Chuck shrugged, “It’s your dressing room.”

“I suppose that means, I should go answer it,” Sarah sighed, standing and trying to smooth the errant hair back into place, however unsuccessful the attempt and crossed to the door, Chuck close on her heels as they heard another knock echo through the room. “Keep your pants on, I’m coming!” She huffed.

As she pulled the door open, both hers and Chuck’s eyes widened at the sight of their intruder. “Hey guys, did you miss me?”


	9. Chapter 9

The stunned silence that overtook Chuck and Sarah only lasted a moment as they took in the man standing before them. Chuck, who had recovered just before Sarah did, broke the silence, “Bryce?”

“What are you doing here?” Came the dual inquiries of Bryce and Sarah with Bryce addressing Chuck, and Sarah addressing Bryce.

When no one replied for a moment, Sarah repeated the question, demanding a response from Bryce. “You said I had a kid,” He winced, he at least seemed to look sheepish over the matter, “I thought we could talk about that. What is Chuck doing here? How do you even know him?”

Sarah rolled her eyes before answering, “I told you when I got pregnant, and despite the fact you left the very next day, the fact you have a child should be of no surprise to you.” She paused a very brief moment and added as an aside, “It almost makes me wonder if you have any other children you’ve conveniently forgotten.”

“I was reassigned,” Bryce shrugged as if abandoning her and their daughter had been no big deal, “On the phone you mentioned it was a little girl. When can I meet her?”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Sarah crossed her arms defiantly, “You clearly had no interest in being in her life until now.”

“Well maybe I want to start,” Bryce pouted slightly and looked up and down the hall at the staff and performers who were still milling about. “Can I at least come inside so we can talk?”

“Fine,” Sarah sighed, stepping back to allow him passage into the room. She felt Chuck’s hand on her lower back lending her strength while simultaneously grounding her to him. Gesturing to the armchair that sat next to her vanity, she invited Bryce to sit as she and Chuck followed him further into the room. As Bryce took his seat, Sarah took a seat on the love seat, that sat kitty-corner from the chair and against the connected wall and pulled Chuck down next to her in the space closest to Bryce. Much to her relief, Chuck did not release her hand. Instead, he cradled it in his own and gently ran the pad of his thumb over her knuckles, which helped to keep her calm. “You wanted to talk, so talk.”

“You haven’t answered my question,” Bryce looked over at them.

“What question is that?” Sarah arched an eyebrow.

“What is Chuck doing here?” Bryce repeated with an exasperated sigh.

“Chuck is my boyfriend, not that it is any of your business, he came to see my concert,” Sarah explained, “Our family just left, which is what we were preparing to do.”

“Still going after my sloppy seconds, huh, Chuck?” Bryce smirked.

Sarah felt Chuck’s hand tightened around her own, but he did not justify Bryce’s comment with a response. Following Chuck’s lead, Sarah ignored the juvenile comment. “Bruce, Bryce… I don’t even know what to call you.”

“You never seemed to have trouble calling things out before,” Bryce grinned, a slight leer in his eyes, “I believe ‘God,’ and ‘Oh Baby’ were the most common.”

“Okay, Bryce, that’s enough,” Chuck growled, the low tone surprising both his girlfriend and former best friend. “Cut the crap and just tell us why you are here. We all know you could have just given Sarah an address to send the forms to, I assume you had an ulterior motive for coming.”

“Is wanting to meet my daughter before I gave her up too much of a stretch to be believable?” Bryce challenged his former roommate.

“In a word, yes,” Chuck gave him a flat look, “You forget, I know you pretty well, despite the shit you pulled back at Stanford.”

“Fine,” Bryce gave in, “Seeing Chuck here gives me an idea as to how you got my secure number.” He then turned his focus to Chuck, “There are only a few people who have that number or the skillset to retrieve it from where it is buried in the archives; the director would have disclosed it to you, even upon pain of death. My former partner was reassigned after being accused and then cleared of treason and was put on an assignment that required her to cut ties and go deep undercover. That just leaves one other person. Funny thing is that they have been off grid for a while now, and no one knows how to reach him or where he is. So, the question is, how did you find him, and what did you say to get him to help you?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about, Bryce,” Chuck shrugged, “Do I need to remind you of my particular skillset?”

“Oh please,” Bryce rolled his eyes, “You and I both know you haven’t dusted off that persona since college.”

“That you know of…” Chuck challenged him, “Let’s just lay this all out on the table, I know who and what you are. I found your dossier, which includes all your covers and contact information. You cause trouble for Sarah or her daughter and I will not hesitate to get you burned.”

“Strong words from a hacker has-been,” Bryce scoffed, “You’re just jealous you missed your opportunity. If only you had done better on that test…”

“Oh, you mean the image retention test that I aced from Fleming’s class?” Chuck’s eyebrows raised at the surprised look on Bryce’s face, “Yeah, I know about the test. I also know that I had a protector within the agency, an old friend of Fleming’s who convinced him to quash the results to remove me from the agency’s radar.”

“Wha… how.. huh?” Bryce couldn’t figure out how Chuck could possibly have such connections.

“It’s not important,” Chuck shook his head, “And it most certainly is irrelevant to the purpose of your visit. In fact, I think it would be best if you forget I’m here and deal directly with Sarah as she is the one with whom you have business.”

Bryce glared at his old friend through narrowed eyes before turning back to Sarah, who was looking at him as if he were something she had found on the bottom of her shoe. “So, can I meet her?”

Sarah sighed at his inquiry, “Bryce, that’s not a good idea.” Sarah shook her head, “The nature of your job notwithstanding, you have known about her since the day I found out I was pregnant and have shown no interest in being a part of her life. I’m not bringing someone into her life who is only going to disappear on her in a day or two.”

“Fine, then what do you want from me?” Bryce rolled his eyes.

“All I wanted was for you to sign a document stating that you waive all parental rights to my daughter.” Sarah explained, “I have not sought you out for child support or anything, and until I called and asked you to do this, you haven’t bothered to come around for the past three years.”

“I was on missions, and by the time I came back state side, you’d moved to the other side of the country.” Bryce tried to protest.

“Oh, save it,” Sarah huffed, “You and I both know you have the resources to be able to find us easily, you chose to not be a part of our lives. I would have allowed you to be a part of her life, if you had only asked, even though our relationship ended. Hell, I didn’t even technically have to do you the courtesy of letting you know that I want to allow the person I marry to adopt her, since your name isn’t on her birth certificate. Which is a good thing too, as I’m sure that having an alias on her birth certificate could have proven to be problematic someday. Not to mention, I’m sure the CIA would have flagged the name if I had and then where would we be?”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Bryce shrugged, “As an agent, I cannot reveal my really identity to anyone, even my girlfriends. It could compromise my missions.”

“All the more reason for you to sign away your parental rights,” Sarah arched an eyebrow. “Even if we were on good terms, I can’t have you coming and going from her life on a whim. That’s not fair to her.”

“Oh, cut the shit, Sarah,” Bryce rolled his eyes, “Chuck is wanting to play ‘Daddy’ to your little girl, and because you are sleeping with him, you are willing to play the submissive little bitch and give in to him. Well let me tell you something, I have it on good authority that he can’t possibly be that good in bed.”

“Hey!” Chuck moved quickly, faster than Sarah could even catch him, grabbing the lapels of Bryce’s jacket and slamming him up against the sliver of wall between his chair and the vanity in the room, “Say what you want about me, I don’t give a shit. But you will not walk into her home, her life, her place of business…” Bryce snorted earning him another slam against the wall, “And insult, demean, or disparage her good name or so help me…”

“What?” Bryce challenged, the taunt clear in his voice, “By your pretty floral bonnet, you will end me?”

“Something like that,” The steel in the programmer’s voice sent a shiver down Sarah’s spine. She knew it wasn’t fear, quite the opposite, but she knew that if she didn’t put a stop, one or both of them would take the altercation further than needed.

“Chuck,” She spoke softly, place her hand on his shoulder, “As pleased as I am that you wish to protect my honor, it is not necessary. He’s not worth it, thank you though.” She gave him a soft smile as she saw him physically uncoil and release his grip on Bryce before turning her icy cold glare at the government agent, “As for you, I can see now that reaching out to you was a mistake. I only wish I could have seen the mistake I was making three years ago. The only redeemable thing about your glorified donation was the beautiful little girl that came of it. Please leave and go… wherever the rock is you climbed out from under.”

She turned and walked toward the door to let him out, her actions making it clear she expected him to follow. Her steps stopped as it was clear Bryce did not understand the value in keeping his mouth shut.

“Yeah, walk away bitch, you were a lousy lay anyhow,” Bryce snarled after her. She then heard the sound of flesh impacting flesh followed by the sound of something falling to the floor, but not before hitting the coffee table that sat in front of the love seat on the way down.

Turning, Sarah saw Chuck standing over Bryce, shaking his hand as he looked down at the man who lay prone on the floor, a bruise forming along the right side of his jaw and a cut above his eye where his head must have hit the corner of the table. At her sigh, Chuck looked up, a sheepish blush on his face, “I’m sorry I couldn’t…”

“Shh,” She shook her head, crossing to him and pressing her first two fingers to his lips to cease his words, “You have nothing to apologize for. Thank you.” She rose up on her toes and replaced her fingers with her lips, giving him a soft but impassioned kiss. A moment later, she stepped back, “I should probably call security to have him taken out.”

“Good idea,” Chuck nodded, wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Sarah gave him a small smile before stepping out his embrace, her urge to linger in his arms apparent in the movement, and picked up the receiver from the phone on the desk and pressing the hot button for the venue’s security office, she spoke quietly and thanked whomever answered before hanging up the phone. She then walked over to Chuck and guided him back to the love seat, pushing him backwards until he sat. Lifting her skirt a bit to allow the movement, she slipped off the heeled shoes she had been wearing and sat on the love seat next to her boyfriend, curling her feet up underneath her gown, laying her skirt back over top of them, and leaning against his shoulders, encouraging him to wrap her in his arms once more.

They sat in silence a few moments, neither one fully losing sight of the man knocked out on the floor. Bryce had already started to recover by the time the security guards arrived moments later. After a brief conversation with Sarah and Chuck as to the situation that led to not only Bryce’s presence in the room but the bruise on the man’s cheek that was about the size of Chuck’s left fist, the same one that showed evidence of having been used in a maneuver similar to a left hook. The men escorted Bryce out of the room while one called ahead to make sure that and EMT was on the way to evaluate the dark-haired man.

“Are you sorry I offered to track him down for you?” Chuck asked his girlfriend as they watched Bryce being escorted out.

“No,” Sarah shook her head, “I think on some level I needed the closure from that time of my life. Like I told him, I really didn’t need him to waive his paternal rights as he was never listed on Molly’s birth certificate. While I wish this had gone smoother, I’m glad it happened all the same.” The stood silent for a moment before she looked back up at him, “How was it you were able to overpower a trained spy?”

Chuck shrugged, “I think it was a combination of adrenaline, anger over his treatment of you, and the Taekwondo lessons I took growing up.”

“You know Taekwondo?” She arched an eyebrow.

“A little,” Chuck blushed.

“How little?” She pressed.

“I think the shadow box with my third-degree belt is still on display at Ellie’s house,” He shrugged.

“Wait… You’re a third-degree black belt?” She gave him an impressed look.

“Yeah, or at least I was when I was 17,” Chuck gave her a wry smile, “It’s not nearly as impressive as it may seem, depending on the discipline there can be up to 10 dans or degrees of black belt, so third is not really all that great. It just means I studied a long time and can perform certain maneuvers competently. I stopped attending classes at the end of my junior year of high school, I wanted to focus on getting scholarships and getting into a good college.”

“Gotcha,” Sarah nodded understandingly, “What got you into it?”

“You’ve met Morgan and me, right?” Chuck joked, when Sarah nodded, he continued, “Well, we kinda were targets for bullies as kids, on account of how nerdy we were… and are. In first or second grade, I came across some kids from our class bullying Morgan, it was looking to get physical, so I stepped in and fought the bullies on Morgan’s behalf. My parents, and his, freaked out and immediately enrolled us in the first marshal arts classes they could find. Morgan got as far as his green belt and lost interest, I kept going. Turns out some of those bullies were in our class, when they saw me mastering the skills faster than they did, the bullying quickly stopped.”

“Gee, wonder why,” Sarah gave him a wry smile. “Were there many girls in your classes?”

“A few, back then, and even now, any kind of marshal arts outside of basic self-defense, is considered a ‘boy thing,’” Chuck rolled his eyes, “I think it’s a good skill for anyone who is interested to pursue, not only does it teach you to defend yourself, but more importantly it teaches you discipline and respect. Clara has grown up seeing that shadow box at my sister’s place and has been recently asking about it. Devon is all for it, Ellie is still a little on the fence about it. It’s not that she thinks girls can’t do it, she is definitely all about the female power, she just remembers the bruises I used to get when someone got in a luck strike, I broke my fingers a few times, my hand once because I wasn’t paying attention to my technique. She’s worried that Clara will get hurt.”

“As any mother would,” Sarah agreed, “But I agree with you, about girls doing marshal arts, sports, dance, or anything that enforces the lessons of discipline and respect they learn at home. One of the ladies in the orchestra, Deb, has all boys. They wanted to take karate, and she allowed it, but with one condition, they had to take ballroom as well. She said the boys hated it at first, but once they realized it involved being able to hold a girl in their arms, their complaints died down a bit. But enough about that, I’m ready to get out of here, are you?”

“Most definitely,” Chuck nodded enthusiastically, “Do you want to change before we go? I brought a change of clothes, it’s in the car if you want to meet me in the lobby or something. I brought a less formal suit to wear to dinner.”

“To be honest, with the whole Bryce thing, we probably missed our reservation,” Sarah pointed out.

Chuck checked his watch and nodded his agreement, “Well, there are still some places open that are good for a nice dinner out that don’t require a reservation.”

“To be honest, I’m not really up to a fancy dinner,” Sarah shrugged, “I could really go for a casual night in with pizza or Chinese and a beer.”

“That actually sounds really good,” Chuck agreed, “Why don’t we swing by your place so you can change into something more comfortable and we can head back to my place for pizza, beer, and a movie?”

“No need,” Sarah shook her head, “I wore casual clothes in and got dressed here, they’re in my bag over there,” She gestured to a bag that sat in the bottom of the open closet below a garment bag. “We can just go straight to your place.”

“Sounds good,” Chuck nodded, “Why don’t you get your stuff and we can get out of here. What kind of pizza do you like?”

“Veggie, no olives,” She advised as she grabbed her duffel bag from the floor and her garment bag from the rod in the closet before joining him once more. They made their way out of the theatre; Chuck having claimed Sarah’s bags in one hand while his arm wrapped around her shoulders as they walked to his car. Once he had paid for his parking and left the garage, he activated his hands-free device and ordered pizza to be delivered about 15 minutes after they were due to arrive back at his place.

The rest of the short drive was spent in relative silence, holding hands over the gear shift, fingers intertwined. Every stop light allowed them a loving glance or quick kiss and before they knew it, they’d arrived back at Chuck’s condo. Both were excited for their first night alone together, no matter if it was spent eating pizza and watching a movie or if it developed into something a little more.


	10. Chapter 10

The drive back to Chuck’s condo didn’t take long, before they knew it, he was pulling his car into his assigned space and pulling her overnight bag out of the trunk of the car. This was the first time Sarah was going to be in his condo, since most of their time together was spent either at her house or at his sister’s place for family dinners and all their one-on-one time thus far had consisted of dinner out.

“Here it is, Casa de Chuck Bartowski,” Chuck opened the door and gestured widely for Sarah to step inside. “We have the living room, kitchen, and my den down here. There’s also a bathroom that is accessible from the hall and the den. Upstairs is my room, and the guest room which is currently junk storage. If you don’t mind waiting while I grab some clothes, I can change in my ensuite so you can change in the bedroom.”

“I can change in the den,” Sarah offered, “I don’t want to put you out.”

“You’re not,” Chuck gave her a soft smile, “I just hesitate to let you use the den as my father has a very bad habit of initializing video calls at the most inopportune moments, I’m just trying to help you both avoid an awkward situation.”

Sarah chuckled and nodded, “Okay, bedroom it is, then.” She followed him up the stairs to his room. A large California King bed sat with the large walnut bookcase style headboard up against the far wall. It had a grey and slate blue striped down feather duvet that had pulled all the way up and was folded down just shy of the pillows that were decked out in grey fabric, the sheets were the same slate blue as the stripes on the duvet. Under the window on the attached wall sat a matching dresser, on top of which sat a wood and metal box that she assumed was used to hold his watches and cuff links. On the opposite wall held some artwork, including a framed, vintage, TRON poster that seemed to be well taken care of if the general lack of fingerprints or dust were any indication. Along the same wall were two doors which he explained were his closet and ensuite bathroom.

It was at that point that he excused himself to cross the room, setting her bag on the foot of the bed along the way. The then began opening drawers in the dresser, pulling a shirt, a pair of jeans, and a couple of items she couldn’t see but assumed were underwear and socks. He asked if she needed to use the rest room before he went in, when she shook her head ‘no’ he nodded and ducked through one of the previously closed doors. She waited a few moments until she heard the sound of a shower starting before opening her bag and pulling out her own change of clothes. Luckily, she had a lot of experience getting in and out of this gown for performances back in New York, so it wasn’t difficult to divest herself of the garment. She lay the dress on the bed until he could hang it up properly. It took very little time for her to change into a comfortable navy tank top over which she wore her favorite loose knit, oversized grey sweater. She had stripped off her stockings replacing them with a pair of dark wash skinny jeans and a pair of warm socks. She had a pair of tennis shoes, but she doubted she would have any need of them before the next day.

Once she was dressed, she pulled out her grooming kit, pulling out the pins from her hair, dropping them in the kit as she went, allowing her long blond hair to fall about her shoulders. She quickly ran her brush through to eliminate any tangles that may have occurred before pulling her hair back in a messy bun. She left the grooming kit on the dresser and turned back to the gown that was draped across her boyfriend’s bed. Pulling a hanger from her bag, she quickly hung up the gown and walked over to the last door that hadn’t seen use by them that night, opening it to reveal a large walk-in closet. Finding an empty space near the door, which was fairly easy as the side practically had nothing hung there. She hung up the gown until it was time to take it to be dry cleaned. Just as she was closing the closet door, she heard the door to the bathroom open, emitting a small amount of steam from Chuck’s quick shower.

He had likewise changed into comfortable clothes, his favorite jeans, an olive-green Henley, the sleeves of which were pushed up to just below his elbows, and socks on his feet. Apparently, he likewise did not expect to leave the apartment, something that secretly thrilled Sarah. His hair was still damp from the shower and it was clear it hadn’t really been brushed as his curls were mussed and going every which way indicating all he had done was rub them over with his towel. “You all set up here?” He inquired.

“Pretty much,” She shrugged, grabbing her grooming kit and setting it in the bathroom, “Okay, now I’m set.” She beamed triumphantly.

“Good, me too,” Chuck returned the smile, having used her moving her kit to the bathroom as time used to put away his cufflinks and watch, “Pizza should be here soon.”

“Yum!” She could practically hear her stomach roaring at her as they made their way down the stairs.

They were snuggling on the living room couch, listening to music and chatting, when the knock signaling the arrival of their pizza broke their reverie. Chuck begrudgingly slid off the couch and walked over to the door. He checked that the order was correct before tipping the driver and wishing him a good night. Setting the pizza box on the coffee table, Chuck made his way into the kitchen to grab plates, napkins, and utensils for their meal. “Do you want beer or wine? I have white zin, and pinot.” He inquired from the arched entry to the kitchen

“The zin would be great,” Sarah smiled as she rose to take the plates and utensils off his hands.

Chuck nodded his understanding and reached into the fridge to snag the open bottle of white zinfandel that had been sitting in his door since the last time he’d had his sister over for sizzling shrimp. Reaching up into the cabinet above the fridge, he pulled out two wine glasses and carried them all out to the living room again. He poured out two glasses and set the bottle on the table next to the now open pizza box and handed a glass to Sarah, “To kid-free date nights.” He clinked his glass against hers.

“Here, here,” She smiled and took a sip, “Does that make me a bad mom that I’m excited to have a Molly-free night?”

“Not at all,” Chuck shook his head, “You just need a break from time to time to relax, let your hair down. Especially since you have Emma to help you out and babysit, now.”

“Okay,” Sarah physically relaxed against the couch, her plate which held a couple slices of pizza, balanced on her lap, her wine glass in her hand. Chuck grabbed a few slices himself and copied her posture as he grabbed a remote and turned on the television and satellite service. They scanned through the listings before finally settling on watching ‘The Terminal’ which had just started on one of the stations, before settling back to enjoy the movie.

Once the movie had finished, Chuck cleared away their plates, quickly washing them and setting them in the rack to dry. The pizza and wine had long been finished and the containers put into the trash. On his way back to the living room, he opened a bottle of pinot to carry back with him. He poured both of them glasses of wine as he turned on the stereo and a CD of bluesy jazz began to play. They were enjoying snuggling on the couch and sipping wine when one of Chuck’s favorite songs began to play and he asked Sarah if she would like to dance. At her nod, he took her glass from her and set it down along with his on the coffee table before rising to his feet and offering his hand to her. He led her to a section of the living room with a bit of space and pulled her into his arms.

As they swayed along with the music, the slowly drifted closer to one another until their bodies were completely flush with one another. Neither wanted to step out of the other’s embrace, enjoying the closeness they felt. When the music began to fade, their eyes met as Chuck ducked his head down to capture her lips with his. Sarah felt a shiver drift up her spine as she felt his hands slipping under the hem of her sweater, his warm fingers alternating between drawing intricate patterns on her lower back and pressing into the soft flesh found there. She allowed herself to be drawn deeper into the kiss, opening her mouth and allowing his tongue entry as she let her hands drift up to his shoulders, the fingers of one of her hands reaching up to cup the back of his head.

The kiss eventually led to them stumbling toward the couch where Chuck sat and pulled her down to straddle his lap. Their lips and hands slowly began to wander, much to Sarah’s surprise, Chuck immediately found the sweet spot where her jaw and throat met, suckling on the point until goosebumps began to rise along her body as his hands continued their exploration. He had one hand holding and squeezing her thigh while the other caressed her back and side under her sweater. When the neckline of her sweater shifted to reveal her bare shoulder at the same time his hand had drifted further up her back, she could see his eye widen and cloud over at what he had realized. His other hand started its way up her side as his eyes met hers, a silent question in them that was answered with a nod a moment before she felt first the pad of his thumb trace its way around her nipple and areola before his warm hand encased her breast, massaging it as a gasp of pleasure escaped her lips. She could feel the effect it was having on him as she rocked her hips closer to his, as if his eyes crossing at the sensation wasn’t a clear indicator to her.

Her hands made their way to the bottom hem of his shirt, pulling it up and over his head revealing his muscular chest and abs which were covered in a light dusting of hair that narrowed into a happy trail that disappeared beneath the waistband of his jeans. Her sweater soon followed; she smiled at Chuck being transfixed on her half naked body both hands framing her breasts, a little fuller now than they had been before she’d had Molly. “You are so beautiful,” He whispered as his thumbs brushed over her hardening peaks, causing a shot of pleasure to shoot straight for her core. He began kissing her again, first on the lips then her jaw, neck, shoulders before one of his hands slid around her back pulling her up and closer to him until he claimed one of her breasts with his mouth as his other hand continued its ministrations on the other.

“Oh, Baby, that feels good,” She moaned, lacing her fingers into his shorter curls, holding him in place as his tongue, teeth, and lips continued to memorize the curve and contours of her breast before he freed her other breast and, tracing soft kisses and licks across her chest, claimed her other breast, switching hands so that the one that had formerly been holding her close to him was replaced and now claimed the sister of the breast he was now suckling on.

“Hmmm,” He hummed against her as his lips began their slow progress back up to her shoulder, neck and lips, “You taste delicious, Sweetheart.”

Sarah blushed as she allowed her hands to trace along his abs and chest, tangling her fingers in the hair that adorned his chest while she began to kiss along his jaw and throat, giggling as he jumped and took a quick gasp when she nibbled on his ear. She continued her explorations as she felt his hands slide down to her lower back, one hand slipping just under the waistband of her pants while the other softly squeezed her ass. Soon her hands began their own southward migration until they were resting over the button of his jeans.

Chuck quickly grabbed her hands with his own and leaned back, “Are you sure you are wanting to do this?” He inquired.

“From what I can tell, I’m not the only one wanting this,” She teased, one hand drifting to caress him through the denim of his jeans, feeling his excitement pressing back into her palm.

“I’m just worried it’s too soon,” He whispered, trying to focus.

“Chuck, I think nearly 10 years is long enough to wait,” She smiled down at him before leaning in to press a kiss below his ear, “I think the better question is, do we continue this here, or are you going to take me up to bed?”

A soft growl came from her boyfriend’s throat as he held her close to him and stood as she wrapped her legs around her waist and squealed happily at his behavior. She pressed soft kisses and was whispering ideas to him as he climbed the stairs and carried her into the bedroom.

When dawn broke, Sarah couldn’t help the sated and happy smile the graced her face as she looked up from her warm pillow to see the sleeping form of her boyfriend who still held her in his arms. When she shifted, he pulled her closer to him like a child with a favorite teddy bear. Despite his hold on her, she was still able to move enough to straddle him, enjoying the feeling of him pressing against her as she leaned forward to place soft kisses along his chest.

“Good morning,” He murmured sleepily up at her, “To what do I owe the pleasure of such a great wake up?”

“Well,” Sarah gave him a saucy grin, “Part of you was already awake, so I figured the rest of you should be too,” She rocked her hips against him causing him to groan.

“You are gonna be the death of me, woman,” He growled, pulling her closer to him so he could kiss her

“Mmm,” She agreed, “But what away to go.” She sighed, then gasped as he flipped her onto her back as he hovered over her, one hand braced next to her head, the other encircling her hip.

“I couldn’t agree more,” He agreed, lowering his head to meet her lips as he joined her once more.

It was late morning by the time they pulled themselves out of bed and into the shower where they spent even more time enjoying themselves before actually getting clean in the rapidly cooling water. Chuck had just pulled on his pants when he heard a knock on his door and rushed down the stairs, shirt in hand, to answer. He noticed his shirt and Sarah’s sweater on the floor by the couch as he passed by, pausing quickly to pick up the garments and toss them into his coat closet before going to the front door as he pulled on his shirt, nearly having it on as the door opened enough to reveal his sister.

Ellie took in his appearance from his bare feet, to his jeans, shirt he was just pulling on, and wet curls and gave him a knowing look. “I see someone had a good night.”

“Not that it is any of your business, but we did enjoy ourselves last night,” Chuck stepped aside to allow his sister entry to the apartment before ducking into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee to brew.

Sarah had heard the voices downstairs and, since her shirt was still down there, she grabbed one of Chuck’s shirts at random, and headed out of the room. Ellie noticed as the younger woman descended the stairs, also bare foot, in jeans, and wearing one of her brother’s shirts, a brown one with a picture of a floppy disk that read ‘My Entire Life.’ Ellie couldn’t help noticing how appropriate that shirt was for the younger woman to wear as she was rapidly becoming her brother’s entire life.

“Good morning Ellie,” Sarah smiled at her boyfriend’s sister, trying to project an air of confidence, but was nervous to be seen coming from what was essentially her boyfriend’s bedroom by the woman who more or less raised him. “How are you?”

“I’m good,” The older woman smiled at the slight hint of nerves she saw radiating from Sarah, “Did you enjoy your kid-free night?”

“Yeah, but I miss Molly to do it too often,” Sarah shrugged.

“I know what you mean,” Ellie agreed, “The first time we left Clara so we could attend a two-day conference, I must have called Chuck 10 times to check up on her.”

“It was more like 30… the first night,” He teased his sister as he handed a mug of coffee, doctored just the way she liked it to Sarah. “Good morning, beautiful,” He greeted her as he pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “How did you sleep?”

Ellie just rolled her eyes, “Oh would you cut it out, I know you two slept together last night. She has a kid, and I already know you’re not a virgin. You’re adults in an adult relationship, you don’t have to hide that you’re having sex, just so long as I don’t have to see it.”

“I had to listen to you and Awesome before I moved out,” Chuck countered, “Turn about is fair play, big sister.” When he saw the look from his girlfriend which was a mix of humor slightly laced with nervousness, “Not that we would intentionally… or that you could… I think I should just stop talking right about now.”

“Probably a good idea,” Ellie chuckled, amused at the twin blushes that graced the faces of her brother and his girlfriend. “I just came over to see if you two wanted to join us for lunch, or in your case brunch.”

“As much as I would love to, Ellie, I have to get home, relieve my mom of babysitting duty,” Sarah shook her head.

“I have some coding to do on the new project at work,” Chuck shrugged.

“Some other time then,” Ellie shrugged and turned to leave. She was almost to the door when she looked over her shoulder, “Don’t forget to get your shirt or whatever it was out of the closet that Chuck threw it into.” Grinning at the embarrassed looks on the younger couples faces, she exited, waiting until the door was closed behind her to let out a laugh at them.

“Why don’t you go upstairs and get your stuff,” Chuck suggested, “I’ll bring our shirts upstairs.”

“Okay,” Sarah nodded, bounding up the stairs to pull on her socks and shoes before tossing her things back into her overnight bag. Just as she was pulling her gown out of Chuck’s walk-in closet, he returned with her sweater and tossed it over her bag before tossing his into the hamper that sat next to his dresser. “Thanks,” Sarah gave him a soft kiss as she laid the dress down on the bed to stuff her sweater into the bag and zip it up, “I guess that’s it.”

“I guess so,” Chuck shrugged, only slightly surprised at how much he didn’t want her to leave. He knew where he wanted the relationship to go, and was sure she was on the same page, but also knowing that if he were to ask her to move in with him, he would want them to find a place that would be ‘theirs,’ and be big enough to house their family in both it’s current 3-person iteration, and any amendments to that number in the future. Chuck grabbed his keys as the duo made their way down to the first level and out to the car. The short ride to her mother’s home was spent in casual conversation about their plans for the upcoming week and planning out another family outing for them and Molly.

Chuck was soon pulling into the driveway at Emma’s house, he helped her pull her things from the car and walked her up to her door, “I’m glad we were able to spend some time together last night. I…”

Sarah smiled as she softly pressed her finger to his lips to silence the spiral she could sense coming, “It was one of the best night I ever had too,” She rose up on her toes to press a soft kiss to his lips, “We should do it again some time.”

“And by ‘it’ you mean the sex, right?” Chuck grinned cheekily at her.

“Yes, and the dancing, the wine, the watching a movie while we cuddle on the couch,” She smiled up at him, “I’ll see you next weekend?”

“Yeah,” Chuck nodded, pulling her into his arms to kiss her, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Sarah pulled out her keys and were just about to insert them into the door when it flew open.

“Good morning,” Emma looked from the couple to her watch and back again, “Or should I say good afternoon?”

“Hey Mom,” Sarah rolled her eyes at her mother’s antics, “How was Molly?”

“An angel, as always,” Emma assured her, “But I got to get going, they called me in, apparently they’re short staffed in pediatrics today. I just put Molly down for a nap and told them I would come in as soon as you got home.”

“Alright,” Sarah nodded, “Well you can go, I officially release you from Grandma duty for the day. I’m sorry I was so late getting home.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, I like being on Grandma duty.” Emma assured her, “Did you two have a good night?”

“Yeah, but I missed Molly,” Sarah admitted.

“That’s bound to happen, but it’s only natural that you would feel that way,” Emma nodded, “Honestly, I would be concerned if you didn’t. You still need some time to yourself or at least some adult time outside of work and the Phil. I’m more than happy to baby sit,” She turned to Chuck, “You tell that sister of yours the same thing applies to her, if she and Devon ever need a night off or a break, I’m more than happy to watch little Clara.”

“I will, thanks, Emma,” Chuck nodded.

Emma gave them both a motherly smile, hugged them both and headed down to where her car was parked. Just as she stepped off the last stair between the porch and the ground, “Come to think, there’s this wonderful winery in Napa that Bill and I used to go to. It would make a nice couples’ weekend, maybe the four of you could go up while the weather is still good. I’d happily watch the girls.”

“We’ll keep that in mind,” Chuck waived at her as she continued to her car.

“Sarah, honey, remind me to give you the info when I get home,” With that she got in her car and drove away.

“When we get married, remind me to keep her and Ellie away from all the planning,” Chuck murmured as he turned back to his girlfriend who was looking at him wide eyed. “Er, that is, if we ever, mutually, after much discussion, decided to take that step… together, that is.”

Sara’s look turned into a smile, “I think I have to agree when we get married, those two will be a force to be reckoned with if they are ever given the chance to partner up.” She pressed a kiss to his lips, “And just so you know it will be when, I’ve loved you for too long to ever let you go. I just don’t want to go too fast.”

“I think last night kinda threw the idea of slow out the window,” Chuck snickered as he pulled her into a hug, careful to not dislodge the bags she was still holding, “But I think we shouldn’t rush into things.”

“Agreed,” Sarah nodded, “Someday in the not so distant future.”

“Just not tomorrow,” Chuck agreed.

“I think I can work with that,” Sarah grinned and kissed him again before ducking into his house, “Bye, Chuck.”

“Bye, Sarah.” Chuck couldn’t suppress the grin that split his face as he practically skipped down the steps to his car and drove home, visions of Sarah in a white dress fading into images of her standing in front of a house, hand on her slight distended stomach as she laughs at Molly playing with a puppy, her looking up at him while holding a bundle swaddled in a light blue blanket, all playing rapid-fire through his head as he drove. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts as the light turned green, he almost didn’t notice the truck that had run the light until it was too late.


	11. Chapter 11

The screech of tires and the dull whump-thwack-crunch of the collision broke Chuck from his daydream in just enough time to hit his breaks. Looking around, the traffic that was moving in the same direction as him was at a complete stand still; no one was able to move. There was still some traffic inching by in one lane in the opposite direction and the cross traffic was still heading the red light. He quickly dialed 9-1-1 as he hit the button for his flashers and quickly got out of the car to assess the scene as he called in the accident. Due to the years he spent helping his sister study for her premed, as well as the time he spent as a lifeguard, and never letting his enhanced first aid training lapse, he performed a quick visual triage of the people in the two involved vehicles all the while speaking to the operator.

“ _9-1-1, what is your emergency_?” The operator’s voice came over the line a fraction of a second after Chuck had pressed the call button on his phone.

“Hi, my name is Chuck Bartowski and I am at the corner of Hollywood and Verdugo, there was a black F250 and a silver Miata involved in an accident. The truck ran the light and hit the car.” Chuck reported, “I am currently approaching the vehicles to see if anyone needs assistance.”

“ _Mr. Bartowski, my name his Rose, are you safe?”_ The operator inquired.

“Nice to meet you Rose, despite the circumstances. I am safe and am approaching the accident on the side where traffic is unable to pass,” He explained as he approached the truck. He could see the stripe of silver along the front bumper and fender where the impact had occurred, the passenger door looked accessible, but due to the airbags, he was unable to see the occupants. “Hello in there, is everyone alright?”

“Ugh, it’s just me in here, and I’m fine,” Came a man’s voice, “That damn car better not have damaged my truck, I just bought this thing.”

“I am going to open the passenger door,” Chuck explained as he pulled on the handle and looked inside. The man looked to be about his age, semi-muscular as if he had been a football player in high school, but had let himself go a bit since then. He had a bump on his forehead, and a bloody nose and bruised face from the impact of his face moving forward as the air bag’s rapid inflation initiated. From what Chuck could see, that was the worst of the man’s injuries. “Can you move?”

“Yeah, I can move,” The man demonstrated by moving his arms and legs a bit partly to test their mobility and partly to prove that they could move.

“My name’s Chuck, what’s yours?” Chuck inquired as he heard and acknowledged the operator’s stating that she was going to dispatch EMTs and police.

“Joe,” The man spoke low.

“Nice to meet you, Joe,” Chuck nodded, “Are you able to get out of the truck and sit on the sidewalk until the first responders can get here and check you out?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Joe shrugged and slowly opened his door, stumbling out and over to the curb where he took a seat, plopping himself down heavily. Chuck watched him, not sure if the stumbling was due to a concussion or some kind of impairment. He decided he would let the EMTs figure it out when they arrived and headed toward the Miata. As he approached, he updated the operator, “So the driver of the truck said his name is Joe, as you could hear, I didn’t ask for his last name. His injuries seem to be exclusively from the impact of the airbag to his face, but he was stumbling when he got out of the truck, but I don’t know if it is due to the accident or another reason. I’m going to check on the driver of the car.”

“ _Thank you Mr. Bartowski; the EMT’s should be there soon, the fire station is right up the street._ ”

“I think I can hear the sirens,” He commented as drew closer, he realized the vehicle seemed familiar to him. The driver’s side window was spiderwebbed and he could see medium length dirty blond hair leaned up against the window. As he got closer, he smelled coffee, and then saw the car seat in the rear bench seat. Dread began to coil itself low in his stomach. He knocked lightly on the window, which he noticed had some blood seeping into the cracks of the window, “Hello, can you hear me?”

A low groan could be heard on the other side of the glass, but no words were said. Chuck continued around to the front of the vehicle to see if he could see through the windshield which was also showing some stress fractures due to the driver door, fender, and windshield frame being bashed in. As he looked in, he gasped, “Oh my God. Um, Rose, I know the driver of he Miata, she works at Westside Medical…”

The EMTs had arrived, closely followed by the fire department’s truck, and as one of them evaluated Joe, the other joined the firemen in assessing the car for the best way to access the driver in the car. The police showed up soon after, and once Chuck had confirmed that the first responders had arrived and thanked Rose for her assistance, he turned to the police and told them what happened. All the while, he played with he phone in his hand as he continued to watch the extraction of the driver from the Miata out of the vehicle. He watched as the car’s driver was placed onto a gurney and loaded into the ambulance. He also noticed that Joe had been cleared and, after speaking with one of the policemen and submitting to a field sobriety test, had been placed in the back seat of the sergeant’s SUV.

“Um, excuse me,” Chuck stopped one of the paramedics, a young woman with auburn hair pulled up in a ponytail that stuck out of the back of her baseball cap. “What hospital are you taking her to?”

“Westside,” The paramedic informed him, “Are you family?”

“Kind of,” Chuck gave her a small smile, and handed her the driver’s information which he’d quickly written down on a receipt he’d found in his car after the police had finished with him.

“Thank you,” The woman accepted the piece of paper and, once her partner had closed the doors and nodded that they were ready to go, turned to get into the vehicle for the short drive to the hospital.

Chuck watched as the ambulance pulled away and walked back to his car. The traffic in his lane had already been directed to a detour, leaving his car as the sole vehicle aside from the emergency vehicles and the tow trucks that had shown up to take the involved vehicles once the investigation had been wrapped up. Disengaging his flashers, he turned his car on again and backed up to turn around, but not before activating the hands-free calling in his car. “Hey Elle, are you or Awesome on ER rotation?”

“ _I am, and I really can’t talk because we just got a call of an incoming_ ,” Ellie responded.

“Elle, you know the person coming in, just don’t freak out.” Chuck informed her, “I’ll be there in a little bit.”

“ _Chuck, you’re scaring me.”_ Ellie sighed, “ _Are Sarah and Molly okay, is Clara?_ ”

“Yeah, they’re all fine, at least for now,” Chuck explained, “I have to go, I’ll see you when I get there.”

“ _Okay, little brother,_ ” Ellie sounded a little perplexed but had to go anyhow as the ambulance had just arrived and she had to meet the EMT’s for the pass-off.

Chuck disconnected the call and hit another speed dial number, the phone rang once before the cheerful voice answered, “Sarah, get Molly and put her in her car seat.” He instructed, not giving her time to question his directions, “I’m on my way there, be in the passenger seat with the engine running when I get there. There’s been an accident.”


	12. Chapter 12

When Chuck disconnected, Sarah stood staring at the phone in her hand in shock. An accident is all he said aside from the fact he wanted her and Molly to be in the car waiting for him to arrive. He was clearly in a hurry and wanted to be able to drive, but not have to wait on the time it would take to move Molly’s car seat from her car to his. She had a feeling in the pit of her stomach who might have been in the accident, there were only a few that would require her to join him at the hospital, and all of them were supposed to be on duty today, but only one of whom would make it difficult for her to… “Oh my God,” She gasped, reality hitting her.

She tried to hold in her tears as fear and panic began to wash over her. She tried to tamp down her reaction as she mechanically went through the motions of checking Molly’s diaper bag, grabbing and bagging up snacks for the toddler, getting said toddler from her room where she was napping, and looping her pure over her shoulder. Thankfully, Molly did not awaken as she was transferred to her car seat as dealing with a grumpy two-year-old on top of everything else would be just too much at the moment. She gently and securely closed the rear passenger door before swinging around to the driver’s side to start the ignition. Once the car was started, she climbed over the console to the passenger’s seat. She saw Chuck’s Aston Martin swing into the driveway to park in what was normally her mother’s parking space. She fastened her seatbelt as Chuck turned off his car got out, set the alarm, and walk over to her Corsica to climb in.

“Ready to go?” He asked, his gaze quickly sweeping over her and then over their shoulders to ensure that Molly’s straps were all buckled before backing out of the driveway.

“Chuck?” Sarah inquired after they had been driving a few minutes. The sound of his name carrying all the questions she wanted to ask of him.

He sighed as they pulled to stop at a lit intersection, he had deliberately taken another route so she wouldn’t have to see her mother’s totaled car. “I was heading home, and your mom must have stopped for coffee as we wound up at the same intersection at the same time. The light turned green, but a truck ran the light and t-boned her.”

He saw Sarah’s hand go up to her mouth as she tried to stifle the whimper that escaped her lips as tears began to fall from both their eyes. He reached out and took her hand securely in his own. “I called it in right way, but I think she hit her head in the accident. She still wasn’t conscious when they loaded her into the ambulance. I called Ellie and she’s the one who caught the case, or at least that’s what it sounded like when I was on the phone with her. She is probably the best person to have on ER rotation for this, she was top in her neurology fellowship.”

Sarah simply nodded, her hand flexing in his as she absorbed his strength into herself. When the light changed, they drove a few more minutes before she spoke again. “Thank you for being there.” She whispered.

“It was pure luck, right time, right place.” Chuck shook his head, “I’m just glad I was there.”

The rest of the drive to the hospital was in silence. He pulled into the first space he could find and sent Sarah on ahead to get information from the receptionist as he collected Molly. Sarah nodded and, grabbing her purse, headed into the ER as Chuck efficiently and gently removed the still sleeping Molly from her car seat and hoisted her in his arms to rest on his shoulder while he grabbed her diaper bag and slung it over his shoulder. He locked the car and quickly made his way across the parking lot to join his girlfriend.

“I’m sorry Ma’am,” He could hear the receptionist, an older woman in dull purple scrubs, talking to his very distraught girlfriend, “We cannot release information on a patient until their immediate family has been notified.”

“But _I am_ her immediate family,” Sarah protested, “I’m her daughter!”

The receptionist looked confused, “The police said that they received not response at the address or phone number for her emergency contact.”

“Um, that would have been my fault,” Chuck approached, “I was present at the accident and probably got to her before the police could.”

“And you are?” The woman arched her eyebrow.

“Chuck Bartowski,” Chuck started.

“My fiancé,” Sarah finished, just in case Ellie wasn’t the doctor who was treating her mother, “And our daughter, Molly.”

“Bartowski?” The older woman arched her eyebrow, “Are you related to the Woodcombs?”

“My sister and brother-in-law,” Chuck confirmed, “Now could you please just give us any paperwork that needs to be processed and direct us to the proper waiting area?”

The woman just stared at him a moment longer before collecting the admission and insurance forms that would need to be filled out and handed them to Sarah, “Surgery waiting room is down that hall there, second door on the right. There is a smaller office labeled ‘family consultation,’ you can wait in there for the doctor to come see you.”

“Thank you,” Chuck looked at the ID badge around the woman’s neck, “Beatrice, we appreciate your assistance.” He then placed his free hand on Sarah’s lower back and guided her to the room. Once the door to the consultation room closed behind them, Sarah quietly took a seat and focused on filling out the information she could.

“I don’t know her insurance information,” She spoke softly.

“Leave anything you don’t know blank,” Chuck advised, settling in the seat next to her as Molly continued to sleep in his arms, “If nothing else, the hospital’s HR department will have the insurance information for her.”

Sarah nodded and continued working on the forms. As she was finishing up, Molly began to stir, her blue eyes blinking slowly as she took in the unfamiliar surroundings, “Mama?”

“Hey baby girl,” Sarah cooed.

“Where Grammy?” The little girl asked.

“Grammy got hurt,” Chuck explained, “Auntie Ellie is helping her right now.” He looked at his girlfriend for confirmation that she was okay with him referring to his sister that way and was given a nod and a sad smile. Molly seemed to accept this and snuggled into Chuck’s chest from where she sat on his lap.

Chuck held Molly with one arm while his other hand held Sarah’s gently brushing his thumb over her knuckles and the back of her hand in small, soothing, circles. She had just rested her head on his shoulder when a knock sounded on the door and a doctor with their long hair pulled back in a ponytail and wearing blue scrubs entered the room. “Hey guys,” She spoke warmly as she pulled up a chair and sat across from them, giving Molly small waive.

“Ellie, oh thank God,” Sarah sighed in relief, “You did get her when she got in. Is she okay?”

“She is as well as can be expected,” Ellie gave them a confident nod, “She’s pretty banged up from the accident. Her left arm is broken, and her hip and shoulder are pretty bruised from the impact. She also hit her head pretty hard, she did wake up for a little bit but was lethargic, not unusual in cases of concussion. We are waiting for her MRI to come back to make sure there isn’t any other damage we need to be concerned about.”

“Can I see her?” Sarah inquired.

“She had to have surgery to set her arm and is still in recovery, but she should be ready to be transported into a room in about an hour; you can see her then.” Ellie informed them.

“When can we take her home?” The younger woman asked

“We would like to keep her for at least 24 hours for observation,” Ellie explained, “But how long we actually will keep her is entirely dependent on the results from her MRI and other factors. She did hit her head pretty hard on the window, so that could cause some issues as well. With any luck, all she’ll need is time.”

“Okay,” Sarah nodded, “Thank you, Ellie, for everything.”

“Don’t thank me,” She shook her head, “Thank that brother of mine, if he hadn’t been there and called in emergency services so quickly, your mom’s prognosis might have been worse, especially if the accident was compounded by rubberneckers causing even more accidents in the area.”

There was a knock on the door of the consultation room, when Ellie answered, an orderly stepped in, followed by a couple official looking people, a heavyset black man in uniform who looked a little like Chuck’s old boss, and a tall thin black woman who looked to be in her early to mid-40’s.

“Good afternoon,” The woman spoke, “I’m sorry to be interrupting you in such a difficult time. I know the last thing you want to be doing when a loved one is in the hospital is answering a bunch of questions, but it is sadly necessary. My name is Detective Judy Hoffs, and this is Sargent Powell.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Sarah nodded at the two police officers, “What can we do for you?”

“I know Mr. Bartowski from the accident scene, thank you, young man, for your quick action by the way,” Sargent Powell started, when he received a nod of acknowledgement, he continued, “Am I to understand that you are also the victim’s family?”

“Well, she is,” Chuck nodded toward Sarah, who had been squeezing his hand in a random pulse since the two police officers entered, “The little one here is, Sarah is Emma’s daughter, and little Molly is her granddaughter.”

“I thought the receptionist said that you were engaged?” Detective Hoffs gave them a questioning look which was only matched by Ellie’s ‘Oh, we are so going to talk about this later,’ look from where she stood just over the officer’s shoulders. 

“Well, erm, that’s not entirely true,” Sarah spoke up, “At least not fully. I think I can safely say we are moving in that general-ish direction?” She looked to Chuck for confirmation who gave her a loving smile and nod.

“I would say that’s a fair assessment,” He agreed then turned to where his sister stood, “Sorry Elle, you can’t break out your planning books just yet.”

Detective Hoffs turned toward the young doctor behind her, “You know these two?”

“Yeah, I am Chuck’s older sister,” Ellie nodded, “And I work with Sarah’s mom here at the hospital.”

Detective Hoffs nodded in understanding before turning back to the younger couple. “You two sure have connections, from what I heard Dr. Woodcomb is one of the top surgeons in the country, especially at her age.”

“Actually, that’s her husband, sorry Elle,” Chuck pointed out with an apologetic look to his older sister, “She’s a close second in surgery, but she is one of the top ranked neurologists in the nation. The latter of which is a bit more beneficial to have on Emma’s team.”

“Agreed,” Detective Hoffs nodded, “Well we do have some things you need to know.”

“First of all,” Sargent Powell spoke up, “The driver of the truck, a,” He consulted his notes, “Joseph Davies, failed his field sobriety test and has been placed under arrest for DUI and reckless driving, at least for the time being.”

Sarah nodded as she took in all the information she had heard from the officers as well as from Ellie in such a short span of time. “Is there anything we can or need to do on my mom’s behalf?”

“It would probably be a good idea to retain a lawyer,” Detective Hoffs recommended, “Normally we don’t recommend firms, but my former colleague’s nephew, Clavo, graduated UCLA Law, top of his class, and is now working at Firth, Wynn, and Meyer. He doesn’t usually do personal injury, he’s more civil right and immigration, but he’s taken injury cases before. I can get you his number, if you would like.”

Sarah looked at Chuck in question, “What could it hurt?” He shrugged and replied softly.

“We’d appreciate that very much,” Sarah nodded, even if this Clavo guy couldn’t help them, he might be able to suggest someone who could. The women shared a brief smile before Detective Hoffs pulled out her phone, notepad, and a pen.

Sarah watched as the older woman scrolled through her contacts before jotting a number down on the notepad and ripping the sheet out, handing it to her. The slip red _Clavo Villanueva Penhall (818)555-4593_. When Sarah saw the name, she gave the woman a questioning look.

“I know the name seems a little odd,” Detective Hoffs shrugged, “There’s a long story, but the short version is that his uncle brought him here from El Salvador to escape the violence almost 20 years ago and later adopted him.”

“That makes sense, I guess,” Chuck nodded, “And you’re sure he’ll take a personal injury case?”

“If you tell him I referred you, he’ll take your case, or if he can’t, he’ll make sure you get matched with the best counsel available.” Detective Hoffs gave them a reassuring smile. “Well, I think we are done here, unless you have something for them, Al?”

“Nope, nothing here,” The man shook his head, “Besides, I’m meeting my cousin Michael for lunch, and I don’t want to be late. We’re trying a new Subway Fresh Fit sandwich today. I just hope that Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki tastes as good as it sounds.”

Detective Hoffs barely restrained her eye roll. It was pretty well known around the station that Al and his cousin, a manager at a local box store, were obsessed with Subway and met up for lunch every day to partake of the Fresh Fit menu. She tapped the rotund man on the shoulder and nodded toward the door indicating that it was time for them to leave. Before following him out, she turned back to Chuck and Sarah and handed them a card. “If you need anything else, here is my card, it’s got my office number and my cell if you need to reach me.”

“Thank you,” Sarah smiled up at her, “We really appreciate all that you do.”

Detective Hoffs blushed slightly and gave a thankful nod for the compliment before following the large Sargent in exiting the emergency ward. Ellie followed the officers out after letting Sarah and Chuck know that she was going to check up on Emma’s status.

* * *

When Ellie returned, she found Sarah sitting by herself in the waiting room, reading a magazine. “Where are Chuck and Molly?”

“Molly was getting a little antsy being cooped up,” Sarah shrugged, “So Chuck took her for a walk around the atrium garden to get her wiggles out.”

Ellie snorted and shook her head at Sarah’s curious look, “Oh don’t mind me,” Ellie snickered, “You just reminded me of when Clara was a little younger than Molly, Chuck insisted on digging out our old VHS tapes from when we were kids and transferring them to DVD for her. We wound up watching the same two Raffi concerts multiple times over, ‘Shake My Sillies Out,’ was a fan favorite in our house, especially amid the curly headed crowd.”

“Namely Chuck and Clara,” Sarah filled in.

“Oh yeah,” Ellie smiled and rolled her eyes, “He still will play some of the songs for her, but she’s starting to get more into Disney now. I should warn you that if you guys make this a permanent thing, which, if I’m not mistaken, is something you are both amenable to, he will likely start to indoctrinate Molly into the music of the great Raffi.”

“I am duly warned,” Sarah chuckled, “I take it that you had another reason to come in other than to discuss the musical proclivities of our children and your brother?”

“Yeah,” Ellie nodded, “Your mom is out of recovery and is in her own room now, if you want to go visit her. She’s in room 305.”

“Thanks, Elle,” Sarah gave the older woman a hug, “I’ll go up and see her in a minute, once I let Chuck know what’s going on.”

“Let me guess, the walk in the atrium was your idea?” Ellie gave her a knowing look.

“Maybe a little,” Sarah shrugged.

“I understand,” Ellie nodded, a small smile on her face, “You want to see how she looks so you can prepare Molly.”

“Yeah,” Sarah gave her an unsure look.

“I don’t blame you,” Ellie placed a gentle hand on the younger woman’s shoulder, “I would do the same thing if the situation was reversed. Why don’t you go see your mom, and I’ll go find Chuck?”

“Okay,” Sarah nodded, “How is she doing?”

“From what I can tell, her prognosis is good,” Ellie advised, “She’s a little beaten up, and we are just waiting until more of her sedatives wear off to finish our cognitive checks, but I don’t anticipate much if any trouble there.”

“She does have a hard head sometimes,” Sarah chuckled.

“Which isn’t entirely a bad thing,” Ellie snickered, “I’ve seen her put a few doctors, deservedly, in their place. Not to mention, her stubborn determination will aid her in getting back on her feet faster, which is a very good thing in my book.”

“Agreed,” Sarah smiled, “So, how do I get to her room?”

“Tell you what, how about I take you before I go hunt down my brother?” Ellie suggested.

“Sounds good,” Sarah nodded, “Lead the way.”


	13. Chapter 13

The elevator ride and walk to Emma’s room was fairly short considering the sheer size of Westside Medical. When the women arrived, Ellie knocked lightly on the door and slowly opened it, checking to see if Emma was awake. “Hey, Emma,” She smiled at the older woman who was conscious, if not a little groggy from the anesthesia, “I brought a visitor with me.”

Ellie stepped aside to allow Sarah to follow her into the room. Sarah took in her mom laying in the bed, a bruise on the left side of her face, including a black eye, her left arm in a cast which looked to already bear a few signatures, no doubt from the medical team who worked on and with her. She made her way to the right side of the bed and took a seat in the chair that was there, taking her mom’s hand in her own, careful to not bump the IV attached to the older woman’s forearm. “Hey Mom,” She smiled softly at her.

“Hey, there’s my beautiful little girl,” Emma sighed, squeezing Sarah’s hand slightly, “Where’s my other girl?”

“Chuck has her, I wanted to make sure you were okay before I had him bring her in,” Sarah gave a small shrug.

“I’m going to go get them from the atrium in a minute, but first I have to check you out, Emma.” Ellie added, walking to the other side of the bed and using the remote to adjust it so that Emma was sitting, but in a slightly reclined position as opposed to laying down as she was when the younger women entered. Ellie made quick work of consulting Emma’s chart for her most recent vital stats, satisfied that it looked as if the CNA had just left a few minutes before their arrival and had notated all the vital information. She then proceeded to check Emma’s cognitive function and checked the dilation of the older woman’s eyes to help rule out a severe concussion. Once she was done, she stepped back, notating her findings on Emma’s charts, and putting the file back in the holder next to the door of the room before making her report.

“Alright, first off, Emma, are you okay with Sarah hearing what I have to say?” Ellie looked to Emma, who simply nodded in response, “Good, so, we should have your MRI back shortly to get a more complete picture of what is going on in that head of yours, but from what I’m seeing you aren’t too bad off. You knocked your head against the glass pretty good, and you have a mild concussion, but that should resolve itself within the next few days. You will want to take it easy getting around, your whole left side is pretty banged up from the impact so your whole side is going to be pretty sore for a while as you heal. You suffered hairline fractures on both your ulna and radius, so you will need to wear the cast for a bit, luckily you are right-handed, so once we clear you to work, it shouldn’t impact you too much.”

“How long will she need to be out of work?” Sarah asked.

“Assuming nothing concerning comes up from her MRI, I would say a week, maybe two,” Ellie shrugged, “Long enough to recover from the concussion and be able to move around without too much trouble.”

“And just when will I be able to go home?” Emma looked up at the doctor.

“We want to keep you overnight for observation, so tomorrow mid-day at the earliest,” Ellie advised them, “I don’t anticipate needing to keep you here longer than that.”

“Is there anything else I need to know?” Emma inquired.

“Just the usual stuff, if you start getting super painful headaches or frequent dizzy spells, call me or have Sarah bring you by, keep your cast dry, and let yourself relax and heal.” Ellie’s directions were not terribly surprising to Emma who had expected as much. “I know they have jokes about medical staff being the worst patients, but seriously, before you go back to work, I have to clear you. I’ll do a home visit for you when you think you might be up to it, as I don’t want you driving until I’ve cleared you, either.”

“No chance of that happening,” Emma snorted, “I’m almost scared to ask how my car is.”

“The cops really didn’t say anything about the condition of your car,” Sarah shook her head, “It was more complimenting Chuck on how quickly he reacted to the accident. Apparently, he was a lane over from you and saw the whole thing.”

Ellie cut into their conversation briefly to excuse herself and go get Chuck and Molly to bring them up. Once the ladies nodded their understanding, she slipped out and allowed them to finish their conversation.

“I thought I was dreaming that…” Emma murmured, “You know how your brain plays tricks on you, especially when you’re scared. I thought because I was in fight or flight mode that I had heard a familiar voice rather than the actual voice of the first responder who responded to the accident.”

“Chuck was first on the scene and made sure you and the other driver were okay,” Sarah informed her, “The other driver was drunk and ran the red light. The detective who came by while you were in recovery gave us the number for a good personal injury lawyer.” When I looked like her mother was going to protest, Sarah cut her off, “I know how you feel about people being overly litigious, Mom. However, the fact of the matter is that, in this instance, it’s necessary. He’s at fault, so his insurance needs to cover your medical bills, lost wages, and the cost of replacing your car. If what Chuck told me is true, your car will likely be totaled.”

“I understand what you are saying, but isn’t that a little petty?” Emma protested.

“No, mom,” Sarah shook her head, “Even if he’s never driven drunk in his life up until this point, the fact of the matter is that he was drunk and caused a potentially deadly accident. You were very lucky. If he had been going any faster or you had been further into the intersection when he hit you, you might not be around for us to have this conversation. He is responsible for his actions; he’s already being charged with reckless endangerment. I’m not sure if that will come with any jail time or not, or just a fine; I’m not familiar with the penalties here for such a charge. Either way, it doesn’t matter, either he or his insurance need to take care of your bills at the very least. I don’t like it any more than you do, but sometimes it’s necessary.”

“Okay, fine,” Emma nodded, “We can see if this lawyer you were referred to will take the case, will that make you happy?”

“Not so much happy as satisfied that it is the first step in making sure you get the aftercare and assistance you need.” Sarah countered.

“Knock, knock,” A warm voice came from the door as it slowly opened, revealing Chuck who walked in, with Molly on his hip and Ellie behind him.

“Grammy!” Molly shouted excitedly, causing Emma to wince a little, her response mirrored in a lesser degree by the other adults in the room.

“Sweetie, remember what we talked about in the garden?” Ellie got the little girl’s attention, “Your Grammy hit her head really hard and it’s making her head hurt so we need to use our inside voices, okay?”

“’Kay Auntie Ellie,” Molly nodded, her blond pigtails bouncing with the motion.

“We also need to be very gentle with Grammy,” Chuck added as they walked toward the bed that was now the focal point of the room, “She has a lot of boo-boos from her accident. You can sit on the bed and hold her hand or give her a gentle hug.”

Molly nodded again then looked toward her grandma, “Kiss?”

“Of course, Sweetheart, I would love a kiss,” Emma smiled as she watched Chuck set her granddaughter down on the bed and the little girl carefully crawl up along her right side, careful to not bump her. When she got closer, she slowly leaned over and placed a kiss on her grandma’s cheek.

“Love you, Grammy,” Molly told her, “Sorry you got boo-boos. Kiss and make better?”

“Maybe later, Baby,” Emma cooed, “Right now Grammy is a little sleepy so I’m going to take a little nap. Did you remember to tell Mr. Chuck thank you for playing with you while Mommy and Grammy talked?”

“Yes’m” Molly beamed, proud she remembered to use the manners her Grammy had started to teach her. She saw her grandmother’s eyes start to droop as the older woman started to nod off, so Molly gave her another kiss on her cheek, “Night, night,” She whispered before crawling back to Chuck, “Up, please.”

Chuck simply smiled and picked up the little girl. Standing quietly to the side as he watched as Sarah held her mother’s hand and Ellie quickly adjusted the bed so that Emma was in a position a little more comfortable for the snooze she was about to take. He heard Sarah and Ellie discussing something quietly, and figured it had to do with Emma’s accident, treatment, and what to expect during the stay and after Emma was released. Once Emma had fallen asleep, Ellie smiled at the young couple and advised them that Emma would likely be in and out for the rest of the day as her body needed sleep to help her to recover from her injuries and that the best thing they could do is go home and relax, maybe come back after dinner to visit a little more and say good night.

Sarah reluctantly acquiesced to Ellie’s suggestion, not really wanting to leave her mother’s side, but knowing full well there was really nothing she could do other than sit around and watch her mother rest. Besides, as patient and calm as Molly had been thus far, there’s only so much boredom a little girl can take. Since it was quickly approaching dinner time, Chuck suggested they go to the local burger stand. Not only would it be a quick, simple, and rare treat for Molly, but it also had a play area in which Molly could entertain herself.

After exchanging a round of hugs with Ellie and receiving direction on where the best place to park was upon their return, the small quasi family unit made their way back down to the Emergency department and out to Sarah’s car. Chuck, who still held Molly, opened Sarah’s door for her and then proceeded to strap Molly into her own seat. A few minutes later found them pulling into the brightly painted and decorated fast food joint. Molly of course started getting excited as she recognized the cartoonish characters painted on the windows of the establishment.

Since Sarah and Molly were both seated on the same side of the car, Sarah made quick work of releasing Molly from the buckles and straps that held her secure in her seat. Boosting the little girl onto her hip, she joined Chuck to walk into the restaurant. The adults conferred over the order before Sarah went to take a seat next to the indoor play structure while Chuck placed their order. By the time Chuck had ordered, paid, and received a metal stand with a number on it, Sarah had already divested Molly of her shoes and the little girl was quickly crawling through the maze of tunnels and tubes. Before long, she’d made a friend and the two giggled joyfully as they continued to explore.

Chuck soon joined Sarah at her table, setting the number stand on the edge of the table and sliding in next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and letting her relax into him as they watched Molly and her new friend playing. Their food hadn’t taken long to prepare and before they knew it a teenager in a loudly colored uniform came bearing a tray with two burger combos with fries and sodas as well as a box with the same cartoon characters the restaurant was known for beside which sat a small box of apple juice. He set down the tray and offered them condiments before collecting the order number and making his way back to the counter to collect and deliver the next guests’ orders.

Sarah quickly found a highchair, as Molly was still a little too small for a booster just yet and brought it over to the table as Chuck distributed their food. It was at that moment that they heard a whimper coming from the play structure. Looking over, they could see though the plastic bubble window of a section that housed a slide that Molly, with a fearful look on her face, was crying as her little friend patted her shoulder trying to calm her. The adults shared a look before Chuck went into action, kicking off his shoes and heading toward the play structure. How he was able to not only fit his long frame into the slide and climb up it in stocking feet was beyond Sarah, but before she knew it giggles of two small children as well as the hearty laugh of a grown man could be heard echoing in the large plastic tube.

Sarah couldn’t help but smile at how quickly Chuck had calmed Molly down and extracted her and her friend from the play structure by sliding down, both children held securely in his lap. The laugh that escaped her lips when she saw not only her daughter’s fine blond hair, but Chucks dark curls standing on end from the static electricity generated from their adventures in the play structure was something she had desperately been needing since the moment Chuck called her and told her in the most serious tone she’d heard in their few months long relationship that there had been an accident and she and Molly needed to be ready to go upon his return. She watched as he gently explained to Molly’s friend that it was time for Molly to eat now and gave them a high-five before scooping Molly up in his arms and carrying her over to the table, quickly sliding her into the highchair before taking a seat between Molly and Sarah and the table.

She couldn’t help but wonder as she watched Chuck and her daughter interact, for the millionth time since they’d run into each other again, if this was how her life was going to be from now on. A small smile graced her lips as she chewed on her burger as she imagined a similar scene, only Molly was a little older, blonde hair pulled back in pig tails as she spoke quickly about something or another that had happened at school as Chuck grinned at her, asking her questions and encouraging her to keep telling her story as he also helped another child, one with dark curly hair, eat their meal as an overwhelming sense of peace and love flowed over and around them. She found that she rather liked and looked forward to the day her daydream became a reality and knew, in that moment, that she was ready for it, just as soon as he was.

Chuck looked over from arranging Molly’s food in front of her and placing the straw in her juice box to find Sarah, a warm smile on her lips, eyes looking toward them, but slightly unfocused as if seeing another reality. He wondered if she was imagining the same thing he’d been finding himself imagining quite often as of late. A future with them, Molly, and another little one with dark hair and bright blue eyes, sometimes he saw a dog too, a spaniel or a lab, but no matter what form the hazy premonition took, it always involved the three of them and an addition that was the best of the two of them. He’d known for a while that she was ‘it’ for him but struggled with whether or not it was too soon. They’d only been back in each other’s lives for a few months and he didn’t want to scare her off by going too fast.

Suddenly, and idea came to him. Her birthday was coming up in a few weeks, he would take her to dinner and give her his mother’s charm bracelet. Depending on how well the jewelry would be received would inform his next move, namely coopting his sister for a day of shopping that he’d only done one other time in his life, but hopefully with a better result. Of course, this would be quickly followed by a covert visit with another prominent blond in their lives. Satisfied in this plan, he set to enjoying his own food, reaching over and giving Sarah a light squeeze of her hand to bring her back to reality.

Once everyone was finished eating, and Molly had been cleaned up, the trio returned to the hospital where Molly proceeded to show her grammy the new toy she’d gotten with her meal. As it was already past the little girl’s bed time, the visit was brief, a quick good night, hugs, and kisses all around before they departed once again for the Walker home where the adults worked on concert to quickly bathe, change, and dress the little girl before singing her to sleep and laying her in her crib to rest for the night. It had been a long day for the both of them, and Sarah wasn’t feeling up to being alone, so after sharing a glass of wine, the two quietly made their way back to Sarah’s room and passed out. Each dreaming of what their future would hold.


	14. Chapter 14

Chuck awoke slowly in the early morning haze to the feel of something warm and soft pressed up against him. It only took a moment for the confusion over where he’d woken up to clear as he recognized the soft blond waves of his girlfriend. He propped his head up on his hand and watched her sleep for a brief moment, smiling at how peaceful she looked. A soft whimper then caught his attention as he noticed the lights on the monitor by the bed flicker slightly. He listened for a bit to see if Molly would go back to sleep, but it was very soon apparent that she was up.

Careful to not wake Sarah, he gently disengaged himself from her, slowly sliding out of the bed and pulling on his jeans before walking down the hall in bare feet toward Molly’s room. Opening the door, he saw her standing up in her crib, gripping the side. “G’morning Sweetpea,” He cooed, approaching Molly who gave him a slightly confused look. “Yeah, I know it’s kinda weird seeing me here first thing in the morning, huh?” When she lifted her arms to him, he picked her up, resting her on his hip as she nuzzled her face into his neck. “Let’s get your diaper changed and we’re going to let your mommy sleep while we get some breakfast. Are you hungry, Moll?”

Molly nodded against his neck but didn’t say a word as he made quick work of changing her diaper before lifting her back into her original position in his arms and carrying her into the kitchen. Happy to let her play monkey baby for a bit longer, he made the coffee one handed. While that was brewing, he quickly took inventory of what was available to eat for breakfast. He found some Cheerios in the pantry as well as milk and a banana in the fridge. Pulling a couple bowls from the cabinet next to the sink, he poured some cheerios in the smaller bowl which had been decorated with the image of a princess and set it aside while he made quick work of peeling the banana with his teeth since Molly still was cradled by his other arm. Pulling the fruit from its peel, he laid it on a nearby cutting board and pulled a knife out of the drawer to slice it into small enough disks for the little girl.

Once Molly’s breakfast was put together, he carried her into the dining room and placed her in her highchair before doubling back to the kitchen to return with her bowl of cereal, her chopped banana, and a sippy cup of milk. Molly gave him a soft “’tank you,” and set to enjoying her breakfast while he got his own bowl of Cheerios and a cup of coffee. The pair ate the relative quiet of the morning, both still a little sleepy due to the early hour of the day.

As they were finishing up, Sarah came stumbling out of the bedroom, blond hair softly rumpled, the belt of her robe untied, leaving the garment open to reveal the boy shorts and t-shirt she’d worn the night before, the fluffy slippers on her feet completed the image and Chuck couldn’t help but smile at how adorable she looked. She quickly poured and doctored her coffee before joining them in the dining room where she finally noticed the goofy grin on her boyfriend’s face, “What?”

“Nothin’,” He shrugged, “You’re just cute when you first wake up.”

“You lie like a rug, but thank you,” She gave him a loving smile, “And thank you for getting Molly her breakfast, you didn’t have to do that.”

“I thought I’d let you sleep,” Chuck gave her a small smile, “Besides I don’t plan on ever letting you, both of you, go. At some point I would have to figure out the care and feeding of the Walker Women, both the miniature and full-grown versions, why not start now?” His smile turned into a cheeky grin.

“You can put that away already,” She rolled her eyes at his antics, “You know come nap time you’re are so getting lucky.”

“I am?” He asked coyly, “News to me.”

“Oh, please,” She chuckled into her coffee cup before taking a sip, letting the caffeine infuse her body.

“I do need to go home and change at some point,” He pointed out as he stood to clear his dishes and Molly’s, who was done eating and was just smushing banana bits in her fingers and across the tray of the highchair. He returned with a bowl of cereal for Sarah as well as a washcloth to clean Molly off with, “Okay, Sweetpea, you can go on and play before we have to get your dressed.”

The adults watched as Molly quickly made her way to her toy bin and pulled out a few toys to play with before going back to their conversation. “I should probably call the hospital, too, see if Mom is going to be discharged today.”

“Do you want me to stick around until you do? Maybe long enough for you to get a shower and dressed?” He offered, “Not that you smell or anything… I mean… I just…”

Sarah couldn’t help but snicker at her boyfriend tripping over his words, “I knew what you meant, and it would be super helpful if you could keep and eye on Molly while I make myself a little more presentable.”

“Well, if you are looking for presentable, you can just lose the clothes,” He gave her a cocky grin.

“Yeah, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” She teased, scooping a spoonful of cheerios into her mouth as Chuck vigorously nodded his head. “Well, maybe I can model the latest designs from the Naked Emperor’s closet later for you, but for now, I think actual clothes that won’t get me arrested for public indecency are more suited to today’s non-bedroom activities, wouldn’t you say?”

“You’re no fun,” He mock pouted.

“Oh, I’m plenty of fun, of do you not remember the night of the concert?” Sarah gave him a cheeky grin as she finished her breakfast and went to the kitchen to rinse out her bowl and place their breakfast dishes into the dishwasher.

“I definitely remember that,” He smiled widely, not even bothering to hide the fact his eyes were skimming her form, remembering the way she looked with nothing but the sheets of his bed to cover her.

“Horndog,” She teased, “I’m going to go take a shower really quick so you can get back to your place to change.”

“Sounds good,” Chuck nodded and watched as she made her way down the hall.

A short time later, Molly seemed to have grown bored of her toys, so he took her into her bedroom and got her dressed for the day in a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt that matched her eyes that were so much like her mother’s. He had just finished putting socks on the little girl when he heard the door of the bathroom open. “Thank you, again, I could have gotten her dressed.”

“It was no big deal,” Chuck shrugged, picking Molly up, “Figured it would save you a little time.”

“Well, I really appreciate it, and all you have done for us the past couple days,” Sarah lifted up on her toes to press a soft kiss to his cheek, which not only caused Chuck to blush but Molly to clap her hands in joy.

“Mama kiss!” She shrieked.

“Oh, do you want a kiss too?” She smiled at the little girl as Chuck handed her over to her. She blew a raspberry in Molly’s neck causing her to squeal in delight.

“Daddy kiss!” The little girl demanded, not noticing the adults pause and share a silent conversation before Chuck grinned easily at the little girl.

“You certainly are demanding this morning, little miss,” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her cheek before kissing Sarah’s cheek in the same manner. “I won’t be very long, just gotta take a quick shower, change, and I’ll be back before you know it.”

“Okay,” Sarah nodded, her voice quiet, still processing the fact that Molly had referred to Chuck as her father as the man in question made his exit. She was a little surprised that Chuck easily accepted it, but what was really surprising was how okay she was with him bearing the moniker in her little girl’s life. Sure, she’d hoped that someday Molly would consider him her dad, but she had always thought it would be a long time coming, maybe after they’d gotten married or had another kid together.

“Mama love Daddy?” Molly broke her of her musings.

“Yeah, Mommy loves Daddy very much,” Sarah assured the little girl as she carried her into the living room and turned on the TV to let Molly watch Sesame Street while she called the hospital for an update on her mother’s condition.

* * *

True to his word, Chuck returned an hour later, freshly showered, and carrying an overnight bag as well as a laptop case with him, explaining it was just in case they needed him to stay over again. He didn’t want them to think he was presuming anything but carried his bags into Sarah’s room anyhow. Sarah informed him that the nurse she had spoken to and stated that Emma was scheduled to be discharged that afternoon once Ellie gave her the all-clear. Nothing had come up on the CAT scan, but Ellie had been rather insistent on having a full 24 hours of observation before releasing her patient.

Not wanting to go to the hospital and be underfoot just yet, the trio opted to go to a local park and enjoy the mild fall morning as a family. Neither Chuck nor Sarah brought up Molly’s words from earlier that day, mutually choosing to just let her call him what she wanted as they both knew that eventually the name would truly become his. Once Molly had sufficiently tired herself out climbing over and around the play structure under the watchful eyes of her parents, even involving them in going down the slide or on the swings at one point or another, they made their way back to the Walker home for lunch.

As soon as Molly was down for her nap, which didn’t take more than Chuck holding her in his arms as he softly sang to her, the adults quietly made their way to Sarah’s room to enjoy their own adult nap time. They even drifted off themselves in each other’s arms but still managed to be up and dressed again by the time Molly woke up.

Once Molly was changed, Sarah had packed a bag of clothes for her mother, and Chuck called his sister to verify Emma’s discharge time, they loaded up in Sarah’s car with Chuck driving again. Thankfully the traffic wasn’t bad, for L.A. and they were able to arrive at Westside within 20 minutes. Ellie saw them as they walked past her office and decided to walk up with them so that she didn’t have to repeat the discharge instructions she was about to give to Emma.

“Good Afternoon, Emma,” Ellie smiled warmly at the older woman, “Ready to get out of here?”

“You have no idea,” Emma huffed, “Let me tell you it’s no fun being on the other side of all this.”

“We’re just glad you weren’t hurt worse than a bump on the head, a few bruises, and the broken arm,” Ellie shrugged before handing the paperwork in her hands to Sarah, who began to look over the instructions as the doctor explained about the medication she was prescribing to help with the pain associated with the injuries that Emma had sustained. She also briefly reminded them of the proper care needed when utilizing a cast and when to return to have the cast x-rayed and, hopefully, removed. “Now, like I said before, I don’t see why you shouldn’t be able to return to work in a couple weeks, I’ll stop by your place on my way home ever Friday to check up on you, and if I feel you are fit to return I’ll give HR the go ahead to bring you back that following Monday. Are there any questions?”

Both Sarah and Emma shrugged and shook their heads to indicate there were no questions that came to mind. “Good, I’ll send an orderly up with a wheelchair to take you out to the car.”

“How about Molly and I go get the car while you ladies get Emma ready to go?” Chuck suggested, shuffling Molly in his arms from one hip to the other.

“Sounds good,” Sarah gave her boyfriend a soft smile and a kiss on the cheek, “Thanks.”

“No need to thank me,” Chuck smiled warmly back at her before exiting the room.

It didn’t take long to get down to the car and Molly fastened into her car seat, so they wound up sitting, listening to the radio, for a little bit before Sarah and Ellie came out, flanking Emma who was being pushed in her wheelchair by a young woman in grey scrubs. When they got closer to the car, Chuck quickly got out and opened the passenger side front door as it was easier for Emma to maneuver into the front seat with her bruised left side. Since Emma was steady on her feet, it didn’t take long for her to transfer from the wheelchair to the frond seat of the Corsica. Once she was seated and Sarah had assisted her in buckling her seatbelt, Chuck closed the door and opened the rear passenger door for Sarah.

“Chuck are you going to be home tonight?” Ellie asked as Sarah got into the car, “We would love to have you for dinner.”

Chuck looked between his sister and his girlfriend, “I don’t know Elle,” He shrugged, “I want to make sure Emma, Sarah, and Molly are good to go before I take off.”

Ellie gave her brother a warm smile, “Aces, Charles, you’re Aces.”

“Wow, a Dad quote, I’m impressed,” Chuck teased, giving his sister a hug.

“Well you deserve it,” Ellie returned the hug, “I’m so proud of you, little brother. You’ve really grown into an amazing man.”

“It’s all thanks to you, Sis,” Chuck kissed his sister’s cheek, “I’d better get going before I have a mutiny on my hands. I promise I’ll come by for dinner once I’m back home, okay?”

“Alright,” Ellie nodded, “Have a good night.”

“You too, Ellie,” He waved at her as he rounded the car to the driver’s side door, “Give Clara and Awesome a hug from me.”

“I will,” Ellie stepped back as she watched her brother get in the car, buckle his seatbelt, and put the car in gear before driving off with his precious cargo.


	15. Chapter 15

The drive back to the Walker household was relatively quick as they were going opposite most of the traffic. Chuck got Molly while Sarah assisted her mother into the house. Since it was getting close to dinner time, Chuck offered to make dinner while the ladies relaxed. He handed Molly off to Sarah and proceeded to the kitchen to inventory what he had to work with. Finding some chicken breast, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, eggs, and white wine, he decided that making a quick chicken parmesan would be the best option for the evening. Further exploring in the pantry resulted in finding pasta and red sauce.

After beating the eggs and bread crumb and parmesan dredge, he started heating some oil in the skillet as he got the chicken ready to fry. 10 minutes later he added butter and white wine to the pan and covered it to let the chicken simmer to finish cooking as he filled a large pot with water to cook the pasta. While he waited for the pasta to cook, he made quick work of setting the table and pouring drinks for the ladies and himself. Molly got milk, Emma got iced tea since she couldn’t have alcohol with her medication, and he poured glasses of the same chardonnay he’d used to cook the chicken in for himself and Sarah. Once the noodles were cooked and drained and mixed with pasta, he called the family to the table as he dished up the meal. The adults all got chicken and pasta while Molly was given a bowl of chopped noodles and some cut up bits of chicken which were given to her once they were cooled enough for her to handle with her fingers.

“Chuck, that was amazing,” Emma complimented him.

“Thank you, Emma,” Chuck blushed slightly under her praise as he continued to eat, “It was nothing.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Chuck,” Sarah gave him a soft smile, “You doing this, and everything you’ve done, especially the past couple days, for us is greatly appreciated. We are very lucky that you found us.”

“No,” He looked up at his girlfriend, “I’m the lucky one to have found you again.”

Sarah blushed at his statement and went back to eating her dinner while also sharing the task with Chuck of making sure Molly ate her dinner. As the meal wrapped up, Chuck collected the dishes and carried them back to the kitchen. Before he began to wash up, he made sure to put away the leftovers, even portioning out a chicken breast and some pasta into an individual container for Sarah to take with her for lunch the next day.

“Chuck, you don’t have to clean up,” Sarah protested carrying in the glasses and cups from the table, “You’ve already done enough by making dinner, making sure Mom is okay, taking care of Molly and I, and… well you know everything. I can take care of the dishes.”

“Don’t worry about it, Sarah,” Chuck shrugged, “If there’s one thing Bartowskis are good at, it’s cleaning. You go spend time with your mom and Molly and I’ll join you in a little bit once I get this cleaned up. But first,” He reached into the fridge to pull out the wine bottle and refill the glass that Sarah still held in her hand, “I think a little more vino is in order.”

Sarah just looked at him, and adoring look on her face as she watched Chuck making quick work of the dishes. “You are truly one of a kind, Chuck Bartowski.” She murmured before going back and sitting on the couch with her mom to chat while Molly played with some toys on the living room floor.

Chuck joined them a short time later, as he promised, and they settled in to watch a movie. Molly had at one point gotten up and toddled over to the adults asking to snuggle with them before eventually curling up in Chuck’s lap and falling asleep. As the credits rolled, Sarah smoothly lifted the little girl into her arms, leaning down so that Chuck and her mom could kiss the little girl goodnight before taking her back to her room to be changed and put to bed in her crib.

When Sarah returned, she found Chuck helping Emma get up from the couch as her left side was still sore. Once Emma was up on her feet, she said goodnight to Chuck and started toward the hall that led to the bedrooms.

“I know I’ve said it before, but that young man of yours is a keeper,” Emma smiled at her daughter.

“Yeah, he is,” Sarah agreed, looking past her mother to Chuck who was in the process of removing the DVD and putting it away before shutting down the entertainment system.

“And he loves you,” Emma smiled up at her, “And Molly.”

“I know,” Sarah grinned, “We love him, too.”

“Not to push, but should I be using this mandatory down time I now have to start looking for venues?” Emma gave her daughter a teasing smirk.

“You’re getting a little ahead of yourself, don’t you think?” Sarah chuckled.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Emma shrugged, “All I know is when you find your person, you hold on to them and cherish every moment you get with them. And looking at the two of you, three of you if we are counting Molly…”

“Which we should,” Sarah interjected.

“He’s your person, and you are his,” Emma gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek, “I’m going to go to bed, my meds are making me sleepy. I don’t care if he stays or not, just don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, and try not to wake the baby.”

“Mom!” Sarah blushed.

“I was young once, heck, how do you think you came about?” Emma arched an eyebrow, “Good night, Sweetheart.”

“Good night, Mom,” Sarah rolled her eyes before kissing her mother’s cheek and stepping aside to let the older woman pass. When she reentered the living room, Chuck turned to see her, and a big grin spread across his face as if he was seeing the best thing in the world by looking at her. It made her weak in the knees, but she fought to maintain her footing as she walked up to him and let him enfold her in his arms. “Thank you,” She whispered against his neck from where her head rested on his shoulder.

“You know I’d do anything for my girls,” Chuck smiled against the top of her head where he was kissing her crown. “You don’t ever have to think family for doing what family is supposed to do.”

“Is that what we are?” Sarah looked up at him, “Family?”

“If you’ll let me be,” Chuck smiled warmly down at her, the love and affection he felt for her clear in his hazel eyes, “I already consider you, Molly, and Emma part of my family, and I can guarantee you that Awesome, Ellie, and Clara feel the same way. You are my family, whether we share a name or not.”

“And if I wanted to someday share a name with you?” She smiled up at him, “Maybe add a couple more to our number?”

“I would be down for that,” He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips, “Just say the word and we can make it happen.”

“You don’t think it’s too fast?” Sarah gave him a hopeful look.

“Too fast?” Chuck snickered, “Woman, I have loved you for the better part of the past ten years, this has been the opposite of fast.”

Sarah chuckled at his pronouncement, “You make a good point, Mr. Bartowski.” She lifted up on her toes to kiss him, pouring her love and commitment into the display of affection. “But I think it’s traditionally the man to kicks things off.”

“Point taken,” Chuck nodded, “I’ll see what I can do about that.” He pulled her closer into his arms, pressing warm kisses to her lips, jaw, and neck, smiling as he felt a shiver run through him as he hit a particularly sensitive spot right below her ear.

“My only request is that we wait for Mom to be fully healed up before we make anything official,” Sarah sighed.

“Are we talking anything, anything, or just the license, officiant, vows thing?” Chuck leaned back a bit to look into his girlfriend’s eyes.

“Just that last part,” She confirmed, “I know she’s going to want to look her best in the pictures, so the cast will have to come off first.”

“Good to know,” Chuck nodded, “Are you a big event kind of girl, or intimate gathering type person?”

“Neither of us have much in the way of extended family,” Sarah shrugged, “I’m thinking family and a few friends.”

“I think I can work with that,” Chuck nodded, “We can discuss details later. It’s getting late and you have school in the morning. Do you need me to stay the night again?”

“As much as I would love that,” Sarah ran her hands up and down his chest, “We’re okay, you can sleep in your own bed, enjoy it while you still can.”

“Only if you’re sure,” Chuck hedged.

“I’m sure, I love that you were willing to stay again for us, though” She smiled brilliantly up at him.

“Hey, you’re my girl, kinda comes with the territory,” Chuck shrugged modestly, “I’ll head out, then. I put some leftovers in a smaller container for you to take to work tomorrow.”

“You take such good care of me, Chuck Bartowski,” Sarah walked him to the door.

“Just practicing for someday,” He pulled her into his arms once more for a searing goodnight kiss that left them both weak in the knees. “I love you Sarah.”

“I love you too, Chuck,” Sarah smiled up at him, “Drive safe getting home.”

“I will,” Chuck assured her, “Do you want me to call and set up an appointment with the lawyer?”

“Nah, I’ll take care of it during my lunch break,” Sarah shook her head, “Thank you for offering though. Do you want to join us?”

“I can try to make it, if you want me there,” Chuck began to walk backwards toward his car.

“I think we would appreciate it if you were there,” Sarah nodded, “If not for moral support, but as a witness to the accident. I’ll let you know the time once I set the appointment.”

“Alright,” Chuck nodded, “I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Sarah nodded.

“Alright, goodnight,” Chuck gave her a small wave before getting in his car and driving off as she waved goodbye to him.

* * *

It was quiet as he walked into the courtyard of his condo complex, the only sound was the trickling of water as it poured from one level to another in the fountain. The low light casting the area in comfortable, soothing, shadow. He had just inserted his key into the lock of his door when he heard the front door of his sister’s condo open up.

“I thought you said you were spending the night at Sarah’s,” Ellie probed, walking toward him in slippers, pajamas, and a fluffy robe, her hair up in a messy bun, and face scrubbed of makeup, “Is there something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, Sis,” Chuck assured her, “They just didn’t need me there tonight. Sarah assured me she had everything under control.”

“Alright,” Ellie nodded, “Let her know that if there are any questions about what Emma should and shouldn’t be doing, that they can call me.”

“They know, Elle,” Chuck gave his sister a placating smile, “It’s late and I have work in the morning, so I really should be getting to bed.”

“Okay,” Ellie smiled up at her brother, “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Elle,” Chuck returned the smile as he opened his door and stepped inside. Once the door was locked, he made his way across to the stairs and slowly climbed up to his room. Not bothering to put on pajamas, he stripped down to his boxers and undershirt and slid under the covers. He was struck by the realization that his bed felt empty without Sarah laying beside him. After two nights, he had already acclimated to her presence as he slept. Considering the conversation that he and Sarah had before he left, he knew he would be doing something to remedy the situation soon.

He began to formulate plans to ramp up to doing that something as he slowly drifted off to sleep where his dreams were filled with Sarah in a white gown which morphed into images of Sarah a bundle in her arms and exhausted but happy look on her face as she says something to him that doesn’t quite reach his ears. The last dream he remembered was a white house with a picket fence and a red door, him and Sarah sitting on the porch swing while they watched Molly and other children playing in the yard. A sense of peace, love, and joy surrounding them.


	16. Chapter 16

A week had passed since the accident, Chuck and Sarah had returned to work and Emma was still at home, although moving around better and better every day. Since Emma’s only real restriction was her left arm, which would remain in the cast for several more weeks, the decision was made for Molly to stay home with her grandma, which she was loving every minute of. It had taken Sarah a while to convince her mother to call the lawyer to see about taking legal action against Joseph Davies to get him, or at least his insurance company, to cover Emma’s medical bills and the cost of replacing her car.

The appointment was set, and Molly was dropped off at Miss Anne’s for the day, Sarah took the day off work and canceled her coaching sessions. She also had called Chuck asking him to come with them since he was there at the time of the accident. Of course, he agreed and even offered to treat the women to lunch afterward as the appointment was set for 10 am. He had gone in long enough to make sure everything was set for the release of their game in time for Christmas shopping to begin and had left the operations for the rest of the day in the capable hands of his best buddy, Morgan.

Emma and Sarah had been shown into the meeting room where they were to meet the attorney who would be representing Emma’s interests. It was a simple conference room with a small 6-seat table, a monitor on one end and large glass windows with shades that could be opened and closed if needed for client confidentiality. Sarah was getting a little concerned that Chuck wasn’t there yet, but figured he’d gotten held up at work or, the more likely reason, had gotten stuck in traffic. Looking up she saw a young man about her age with dark wavy hair, and a nice, but not overly fancy, navy business suit which he wore with a sky-blue dress shirt and no tie approaching the conference room when she heard the door open and close. Turning, she smiled at the man who quickly made his way into the room.

“Sorry, I know I’m running late,” Chuck gave her soft smile and a kiss before taking his seat next to her, “Morgan had a million questions about the release before he let me leave and then I got stuck in traffic and, gah!”

“Well you made it just in time,” Sarah assured him.

“The lawyer hasn’t come in yet,” Emma added.

“Yes, I have,” Came a slightly accented voice from the doorway, causing the three other adults to turn and see him. It was the man Sarah had seen just a moment before. “Hello, I’m Clavo Villanueva Penhall. I know it’s a bit of a mouthful, you can just call me Clavo; I’m sorry if you feel my Aunt Judy foisted you off on me. I swear I don’t ask her to do it.”

This got a chuckle from the trio as Clavo took his seat, opening a leather folio on the table in front of him and organizing some papers before returning his gaze to the women and man sitting across from him. He noticed Emma’s cast and gave her a warm smile, “I’m guessing you are Emma?”

“Yes, I am,” Emma nodded then gestured to her daughter beside her. “This is my daughter Sarah and her… Chuck.”

Clavo turned his sights to the tall man who sat with the women, “Chuck? You were at the crash site, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Yeah, right place right time,” Chuck shrugged, “I was heading home from dropping Sarah off and part of my drive home happens to follow the same route as Emma takes to work. I witnessed the crash and started administering aid until first responders arrived.”

“And your sister was the ER attendant who treated Emma?” Clavo confirmed.

“As luck would have it, Westside was the closest hospital to the accident and Ellie happened to be the attendant on ER rotation.” Emma explained, “I’m very lucky since I hit my head during the accident that the physician on rotation was a neurologist.”

“Alright,” Clavo nodded, consulting the reports he’d received and making a few notes of his own, “I see here that Mr. Davies, the other party involved was evaluated on scene and was found to be under the influence at the time of the accident?”

“That’s what we were told by the police,” Emma nodded.

“Seems we have a good place to start from,” Clavo smiled up at them, “As for my fee…”

The lawyer was interrupted by a knock on the conference room door followed closely by two older men who looked to be in their late 40’s or early 50’s. One was thin with an angular, clean-shaven, face dark hair and eyes, and wore a jean jacket, ripped jeans, and motorcycle boots. The other man was taller but broader than his cohort, he had a buzz cut fauxhawk and a bit of scruff, the brown coloring interspersed with grey, it was clear he had been athletic in his youth but had softened a little around the edges over the years. He wore a leather motorcycle jacket, jeans, and boots. Clavo looked up at the newest additions to the room and gave them a questioning look.

“Uncle Tommy, Papa Tio, I’m a little busy right now,” Clavo gave them a pointed look as if they hadn’t seen the three other occupants of the room. He knew they had, nothing really got by them anymore due to their combined 53 years in law enforcement, “What is so important that you couldn’t wait?”

The broader man smiled warmly at him, holding up a paper bag and shaking it at him, “You forgot your lu-unch,” He sing-songed, causing his partner to roll his eyes.

Clavo did not look impressed, used to his adoptive father’s antics, which were only spurred on and encouraged by his best friend and long-time work partner. “Thanks, but you could have just left it with the receptionist.”

“Hey,” The man who still held the paper lunch bag, held up his hands defensively, “I’m just trying to be a good parental-type figure and make sure you eat. It’s Pollo! You love Pollo!”

Clavo rolled his eyes before turning back to his clients, “I do apologize for this, I know it’s extremely unprofessional.”

“You should meet some of my family,” Chuck snickered.

“Clavo, you gonna introduce us?” The thinner man pressed, earning an amused and slightly defeated huff from his honorary nephew.

“If they are okay with it?” Clavo checked with his clients who just chuckled and nodded their consent. “Will you two go away If I do?”

“Sure, whatever you want,” The stockier man nodded.

“Fine,” Clavo stood and walked over to the newest additions to the room, snagging the paper bag out of his Papa Tio’s hand and setting it on the table beside him, “Emma, Sarah, and Chuck, allow me to introduce some more of my family. This is my Papa Tio, Doug Penhall, and his partner, Tom Hansen.”

“Work partner,” Hansen corrected.

Clavo ignored the interruption as he continued, “My Aunt Judy used to work with them on an undercover task force. They loved undercover work so much, they went on to the DEA. They like to pop in and embarrass me when they are in town.”

“So basically, family,” Chuck snickered.

“Si, family,” Clavo admitted with a slight shrug and amused expression on his face, “Papa Tio, Uncle Tommy, this is Emma and Sarah Walker and Chuck Bartowski.”

“Chuck Bartowski, like the computer guy?” Penhall turned to him.

“Uh, yeah,” Chuck shrugged.

“And didn’t you just play at the Phil?” Penhall turned to Sarah.

“And just how would you know that?” Hansen rounded on his partner.

“What?” Doug gave his friend an innocent look, “I enjoy culture, I heard her play a beautiful aria a couple years ago when she was with the New York Philharmonic. When I heard she was performing at the season opening of the LA Phil, I had to go. Miss Walker you gave me chills.”

“Thank you,” Sarah blushed at the compliment, “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“Why didn’t you take me with you?” Hansen demanded, back handing his best friend’s arm.

“I didn’t think you would enjoy it,” Penhall shrugged, “It didn’t seem your thing.”

“I grew up playing in the school orchestra!” Hansen huffed, “I would have enjoyed it!”

“I’m sorry, I’ll bring you next time,” Penhall gave his buddy a sheepish smile.

“Hey!” Clavo interjected trying to regain control of the conversation, “Felix, Oscar, take your lover’s spat outside, I’m in a meeting.”

“Fine,” Penhall huffed, “We’ll probably be in town a while on assignment, so I don’t know how much I’ll be able to see you on this go-around. Just wanted to swing by and say hello before we went under.”

“I appreciate you coming, but I have a meeting to get back to.” Clavo have his father and uncle a smile.

“Alright, we’ll get out of your hair, see ya around,” Hansen gave the younger man a small waive and exited.

“It was good to see ya kiddo,” Penhall walked over to Clavo and slung his arm around the younger man’s neck, pulling him in and dropping a kiss on his head, “Love ya kid.”

“Love ya too, Papa Tio,” Clavo smiled up at the man who had raised him since he was eight, “You two stay safe.”

“We will,” Penhall nodded and turned back to Chuck, Emma, and Sarah, “It was nice to meet you. My kid here will take good care of you.”

“We’re sure he will,” Emma smiled warmly at the man, “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Penhall nodded and left the room as well.

“Sorry about them,” Clavo shook his head as he rounded the conference table and reclaimed his seat, “Now, where were we?” He looked over his paperwork, “Right, my fee. As this is an injury case, I will not be charging you for my time, win or lose. We will include my billed hours in the litigation paperwork, it will be Mr. Davies who will have to pick up the tab. Don’t worry, I am no where near as expensive as most other lawyers, so it won’t be too much more of a hardship for him. From the police and medical reports, plus eyewitness testimony, we have enough to prove he is culpable to cover the expenses you incurred as a result of the accident. I have already taken the liberty of filing a preliminary petition with the court and we have a hearing date for next Thursday.”

“Wow, that was fast,” Emma looked impressed.

“To be honest, we got lucky that there was an opening in the schedule,” Clavo shrugged. “I have your number if anything comes up, and I know you have mine. If you need anything, have questions, whatever, please just give me a call.”

“Thank you,” Emma smiled at the younger man as they all stood and shook hands.

As Emma and Chuck turned to leave, Sarah put a hand on Chuck’s wrist pausing his retreat, “Hold on a moment,” She spoke softly before turning to the lawyer, “Um Clavo, if you have a moment, there’s another matter I would like to discuss with you.”

Emma looked between her daughter and the attorney questioningly, “Do I need to stay for this?”

“No, Mama, I’ll catch up with you in a minute,” Sarah assured her.

Once Emma left Clavo turned his attention to the couple before him, “What can I do for you?”

“I know you’re busy, so I’ll make this quick,” Sarah gave him an apologetic smile as they reclaimed their seats, “I don’t know if you know anything about custody arrangements.”

“I deal with them all the time,” Clavo assured her, “Granted it’s usually in a slightly different context than I’m sure you are dealing with.”

“Well, I have a child, a little girl from a previous relationship,” Sarah began as Chuck took her hand in solidarity, “Her father has not been in the picture since I told him that I was pregnant. I haven’t even put his name on the birth certificate when she was born. Chuck and I have discussed marriage, and assuming that happens, I would like him to have the option of adopting her.”

“I follow you so far,” Clavo nodded, “And I assume you are on board with this plan, Chuck?”

“Yeah,” Chuck smiled at his girlfriend as he ran his thumb over the knuckles of her hand. “I was actually able to help track him down.”

“That’s good,” Clavo nodded, “It will be easier to serv him if we know where to find him.”

“That’s the thing,” Sarah sighed, “He found us a couple weeks ago, after my performance with the LA Phil the night before my mom’s accident, in fact. There was an … altercation.”

“He was out of line and I decked him,” Chuck admitted the tone of his voice a mix of pride and sheepishness.

“He was escorted out by security and we were unable to make arrangements or even come to an agreement regarding him officially waving his parental rights.” Sarah continued, “Part of the issue in the altercation was that he claims he didn’t know he had a child despite me telling him that I was pregnant.”

“Okay,” Clavo nodded, “Well, considering his complete lack of interest in your daughter, we may have grounds to terminate due to parental abandonment.”

“There’s more,” Sarah gave him an apologetic look.

“More?” Clavo’s eyebrows raised intrigued.

“I may or may not have found proof that he is a clandestine agent with an intelligence agency,” Chuck shrugged, “So nailing him down to be served could prove difficult.”

“There are ways to work with that,” Clavo nodded confidently, “We can try to locate the address of his current residence and serve him there, if we are unable to, we will reach out to him by as many ways possible, notating everything. If that doesn’t prove fruitful, we can request a judge to sever parental rights in abstentia.”

“What is that standard fee for all this?” Chuck inquired, “It seems like quite a bit of work on your part.”

“I’m assuming that I may need to have some of the paperwork processed through DC somewhere?” Clavo gave them a knowing grin.

“Money is no object,” Chuck stated definitively.

“Some might say that’s a dangerous statement to make to a lawyer,” Clavo laughed good naturedly.

“No, Chuck,” Sarah shook her head, “I can’t let you…”

“Hey, if all goes to plan, it will be your money too,” Chuck shrugged, “Time frame makes no difference.”

Sarah rolled her eyes and turned back to Clavo with an expectant look.

“Starting estimate, $3500,” Clavo gave them a small smile, “Mainly because I will need to find someone in DC I can trust and will need to be able to cover their fees.”

“Understood,” Sarah nodded, “So you can help us with this?”

“Yeah, I’ll help you out.” Clavo nodded, “I have soft spot for adoptive parents, especially adoptive fathers, thanks to my Papa Tio.”

“I’m guessing he’s your uncle and he adopted you?” Sarah inquired leaning on her Spanish electives from college.

“Exactamente,” Clavo grinned. “I was born in El Salvador, my Tia came here seeking sanctuary, met and married my uncle. However, due to how quickly they married after meeting, the judge refused to acknowledge their marriage as valid when it was brought to her attention after she refused to grant her asylum and deported her. Long story short, she ‘disappeared’ as many who went against the government back then did. Papa Tio came looking for her with Uncle Tommy and found my mother and me. My mother sent me back with him for my safety, good thing to because she eventually ‘disappeared’ too, and he adopted me. We believe they were both murdered.” He crossed himself, “Father Kelly held a memorial service in their honors. Papa Tio, Uncle Tommy, Aunt Judy, Uncle Harry, Captain Fuller, and I were the only ones there.”

“I am so sorry,” Sarah replied softly.

“Thank you,” Clavo gave her a soft smile, “I didn’t tell you this to play on your sympathy, but to let you know how highly I regard anyone who loves a child enough to take them into their hearts.”

“I appreciate that,” Chuck nodded, “And I do love Molly very much.”

“I know,” Clavo smiled at him, “I can see it in your eyes and they way you love her mother, that was clear to me from the moment I walked in here.” He turned back to Sarah, “I will need Molly’s information as well as whatever contact information you have on her birth father. Name, birthdate, address, phone, email, work, you get the idea. You can email it all to me,” He handed her a card which she promptly handed to Chuck.

“I’ll email you by this afternoon,” Chuck nodded.

“You do that, and I’ll start the filing process by this evening,” Clavo smiled as he stood again, gathering his folio and bagged lunch before escorting them to the door of the conference room, “It was nice to meet you both, and I’ll do my best to resolve both matters as expeditiously as I can.”

“That’s all we can ask,” Chuck nodded, shaking the lawyer’s hand and placing his hand on the small of Sarah’s back as she did the same, before escorting her out. They watched as Clavo continued on to his office before meeting up with Emma who had texted them to say she would meet them out front as she was wanting a little fresh air. “So, lunch?”

“Lunch,” Sarah agreed as they made their way out of the office building, hope that Clavo would be able to carry through for them on both their cases filling their hearts and minds.


End file.
